What I don't get...

[Animeniax]

What I don't get is if Michael Jackson has so many financial troubles, why doesn't he just release another song? It will be multi-platinum and make millions, almost guaranteed. People love his music, even if it's a mediocre effort and more than 10 years past its prime.

[darkshadow]

totally random topic >_>, but ok, isn't he making a comeback? i think he just released an album with kanye west and will.i.am and such, sure there will be real new stuff down the road.

[Animeniax]

This is just one topic for this thread. I'm hoping it will be like "the bitching thread" or "today I learned", but people can post about stuff that perplexes them. People can ask for help with homework here if they like.

I just read that he has a collaboration with Akon and that they're going to re-release Thriller or something. But why did he wait until he had to sell off Neverland Ranch before he decided to make money the easy way again?

[Death BOO Z]

he was busy working for his alien lords...

maybe he'll release another game as well? I remember the Gensis game to be quite fun, and some reviews place it in the top 100.

making zombie dance... truly the king of pop

[Psyke]

making zombie dance... truly the king of pop

Haha! I remember that game. Opening doors to find small children who scream "Michael!".

Maybe he doesn't have enough funds to kick off a new single? I used to listen to his songs, but that was way way back, and I'm not sure if he has a lot fans from the current generation of listeners.

[Idealistic]

he was busy working for his alien lords...

maybe he'll release another game as well? I remember the Gensis game to be quite fun, and some reviews place it in the top 100.

making zombie dance... truly the king of pop

He made a new mario game.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=833xoDxyb6A

[Assassin]

ok lets stay on topic...enough micheal jackson talk

[Board of Command]

What I don't get:


ok lets stay on topic...enough micheal jackson talk

[Animeniax]

It was his first chance in a while to do some modding, so he gave it a try. He might be a little rusty.

What I don't get is, if North American major league baseball is a private enterprise, why did Congress get involved with the steroid scandal? When my private company does drug tests, will Congress get involved and hold hearings too? Seems like an internal matter.

[The Heretic Azazel]

What I don't get is, why is there a sudden wave of ignorant fucks robbing convenient stores? There's hardly more than 50 bucks in the drawer at a time, surveillance is often everywhere, AND it requires a weapon. That's armed robbery. For pocket change. I mean, at least aim high, run up in some upscale houses when no one's home

[Animeniax]

I think it's because they misunderstand the "convenience" part of convenience store, and figure it's "convenient" to rob. When a store gets robbed, it's a faceless corporation that loses. Robbing someone's house is just wrong, regardless of insurance.

[fahoumh]

When a store gets robbed, it's a faceless corporation that loses.

Tell that to the owners....and to the traumatized cashier. :rolleyes:

[Animeniax]

If it doesn't kill you it can only make you stronger.

Or it could be something like in Fight Club where Tyler Durden encourages that immigrant convenience store clerk to get back on his degree plan. Sometimes motivation can strike you while you're looking down the barrel of a gun.

[Buffalobiian]

Sometimes motivation can strike you while you're looking down the barrel of a gun.

Like motivation to hand over the money? :p

[Animeniax]

More like motivation to do something beyond being a convenience store clerk. Like being a taxi driver.

[Kraco]

The people who rob them are likely more stupid than the worst of our members and far more desperate. People who need their next drug fix no matter what, and thus won't stop to consider their "plan" for a single second. I have sometimes heard from shopkeepers / clerks stories about how outrageous druggies can be.

[Abdula]

Unfortunately Kraco, I think the majority of people who do that aren't drug addicts at all but are just "ignorant fucks" as Azazel put it. Despite the small amount of money most people get from robbing a convenience store there are still plenty of people willing to do it.

Sometimes motivation can strike you while you're looking down the barrel of a gun.
I dunno Ani, staring down the barrel of a gun never really did anything for my motivation.:p

[The Heretic Azazel]

No, it's been my experience most of them are junkies. Usually what they do is hit a nearby gas station here, then hop over the levee to the hood to get a crack rock. You can smoke a 50 dollar rock in a matter of 30 minutes or less, then on to the next. Its miserable.

[Abdula]

Oh really wow. Well where I grew up didn't have a lot of drugs so there weren't many junkies, robberies were mostly done just by bored idiots or people who for one reason or another felt they needed money desperately enough to steal for it. Junkies aren't something I'm familiar with.

-That explains that neg rep, I guess.

[Assertn]

What I don't get is employee mentality.
company pride/spirit, corporate politics, climbing the business ladder.

For some reason people love this stuff. I don't understand it.

[Assassin]

thats because you get just as much $$ by jumping from one freelance job to another. In the coporate world, people have to resort to other methods for the same rewards.

[Animeniax]

For me its about stability. I've never wanted to be my own boss because I lack the motivation and I don't want all the responsibility. I've known people who worked for temp agencies and moved from job to job every couple of weeks or months, but that was never for me because there's no stability. When the IT job bubble burst in the early 2000s, the temp jobs dried up and these guys were out of work for months at a time. I plodded along in my company, getting yearly merit bonuses, transfers, and promotions.

I don't like corporate politics, but it's the same anywhere in life: scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. But I still just do my job and hope someone notices the effort, which they have. I was with that company for 7 years before leaving and I plan to go back to them after I get a degree.

I wish we could go back to the times when companies took care of employees so employees took care of the company. Now its all foreign investment and cutting jobs and getting rid of pensions and lazy employees who don't care about their company's (and therefore their own) success.

[Board of Command]

What I don't get is fashion trends. How do fashion trends start and catch on? Somebody out there has to take the initiative and dress like a douche, and surprisingly, others follow suit. Eventually, millions of people start dressing that way. Then all of a sudden, someone takes the initiative and dresses differently. Rinse and repeat.

This cycle never ceases to amaze me.

It's like the term "pwn." ONE person out there accidentally wrote "pwn" and a couple other people happened to see it. Before you know it, millions of people in the world are now using this term like it's a real word and has been for decades.

[Sapphire]

Magazines, super models, and affordabillity.

[Yukimura]

@BoC I choose to just believe what they said in Devil Wears Prada. It starts with someone with the power of mass media behind them choosing something they like and showcasing it. A random fashion editor/group of fashion editors looks at all the newest works of the major designers and based on what they like decide what gets to be popularized in their magazines and thus be 'fashionable'. From the gold standard magazines 'fashion' trickles down into everything else as the non-big names attempt to adapt what they sell to whatever has been deemed 'fashionable'.

[lelouch]

I've never wanted to be my own boss because I lack the motivation and I don't want all the responsibility. I've known people who worked for temp agencies and moved from job to job every couple of weeks or months, but that was never for me because there's no stability. When the IT job bubble burst in the early 2000s, the temp jobs dried up and these guys were out of work for months at a time. I plodded along in my company, getting yearly merit bonuses, transfers, and promotions.


I am the complete opposite. I would much rather be my own boss, and I am! I run my own website development business (unfortunately only on the side for now, hopefully later on I will be making enough out of it through update fees and large waves of clients through past referrals). I've made several thousand so far in very little time, and hopefully the trend will continue (if anyone here needs a website, just let me know! I'll give a special gotwoot discount ;) )

The reason I like being my own boss is that I don't like the feeling of working under someone. I like the feeling of being completely in control. It just bothers me to know that at any moment my boss can come up to me and tell me to clean the coffee spill on his desk (I know I'm exaggerating lol, but you get my point). As the head of my web design business, I can take breaks when I want for however long I want (as long as I make sure to have the client's project done on time), and have the pleasure of feeling powerful when I tell other people what to do (of course in a nice and polite way). I don't mean to sound snobbish, as I definitely do NOT like to boss people around. I am just saying I like the feeling of being in charge. Is that wrong?

[Animeniax]

Nothing wrong with that, since you seem to love what you do. Like a musician or an artist, you want control over your product, including time-lines and final output. If I cared more about the field I am in, I'd want more control and to be the boss, but that's not the case for me. In the service industry, you're beholden to your client, and management often has to give in to their requests, so really everyone answers to someone, including you with your clients.

It's often said that small business owners work more hours than salary guys, but I guess you get to enjoy more of the success if it comes to fruition.

[Assertn]

I am the complete opposite. I would much rather be my own boss, and I am! I run my own website development business (unfortunately only on the side for now, hopefully later on I will be making enough out of it through update fees and large waves of clients through past referrals). I've made several thousand so far in very little time, and hopefully the trend will continue (if anyone here needs a website, just let me know! I'll give a special gotwoot discount ;) )

The reason I like being my own boss is that I don't like the feeling of working under someone. I like the feeling of being completely in control. It just bothers me to know that at any moment my boss can come up to me and tell me to clean the coffee spill on his desk (I know I'm exaggerating lol, but you get my point). As the head of my web design business, I can take breaks when I want for however long I want (as long as I make sure to have the client's project done on time), and have the pleasure of feeling powerful when I tell other people what to do (of course in a nice and polite way). I don't mean to sound snobbish, as I definitely do NOT like to boss people around. I am just saying I like the feeling of being in charge. Is that wrong?
That's one reason I became a freelance flash developer.
The other is that I like change too much, and I can't see any better way to access change than to have complete freedom of choice. Also, I hate the idea of other people profiting from my hard work.

[Uchiha Barles]

Heh, you seem to be one of the few that either avoided indoctrination into believing that employee mentality is the cat's meow, or you broke out of it having gained knowledge that somehow remains obscure to most people. Either way, good for you.

But yeah, this mentality is worked it's way into us from the time we're young: "Go to school, get good grades. Go to a good high school, get good grades. Go to a good college, get good grades. Then, get a great paying job. Be Ambitious!" Our parents help out with that, so do our teachers, and even our peers. It's kind of hard not to fall into that.

[Buffalobiian]

And there's nothing really wrong with it either. Sure, it's only one of the many outlooks/mentality you can have about life, but it's probably the boring one, and one that's taught to you rather than learnt yourself. But for people like me who have yet to find their direction in life, following that general trend keeps you from stagnating into nothingness.

[Archangel]

He made a new mario game.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=833xoDxyb6A

Lol i had that game for megadrive, it was fun actually ( the original without the mario stuff )

[Animeniax]

Heh, you seem to be one of the few that either avoided indoctrination into believing that employee mentality is the cat's meow, or you broke out of it having gained knowledge that somehow remains obscure to most people. Either way, good for you.

But yeah, this mentality is worked it's way into us from the time we're young: "Go to school, get good grades. Go to a good high school, get good grades. Go to a good college, get good grades. Then, get a great paying job. Be Ambitious!" Our parents help out with that, so do our teachers, and even our peers. It's kind of hard not to fall into that.
I think it's ridiculous to suggest that working the 8 to 5 for a company makes us sheep or robots. Work pays the bills for me, but I have other pursuits outside of work. It's nice that you love what you do enough to spend that much time doing it, but I'm only willing to give the 40-50 hours a week for my job, and I spend the rest of my life doing other things which I enjoy, though I can't get paid to do them.

I've found in this life that too many people want to be superstars when the world needs more cogs for the machine.

[Uchiha Barles]

I suppose what was said about stagnating into nothingness was true, and that this indoctrination prevents that. However, this indoctrination also prevents most people from looking outside of that box. Everything a lot of people do is in terms of this indoctrination, and a lot of people are unhappy about it. Consequently you get a lot of unhappy people willing to take the risk to try something outside of that comfort zone that might otherwise make them happy, or at least less miserable. I don't know very many people who have done the 9-5 for over 10 years and continue to enjoy it. Furthermore, I've spoken a few of them (being friends and family and whatnot) about trying to make money from investing in something, you know, making your cash work for you. None of them have the balls to try it. That's not a good thing, and it's a result of having been pushed to do the "sure thing" and the "safe thing" their whole lives.

I myself would've wanted to be a musician and a martial artist from the time I was young. Might've had a career in either field by now had I started when I was young, because I've found that I have talent for both. But I started both those things rather late in life, and if a career in either is possible, it'll be much harder to achieve, and I'll never be as good as I would've been on account of having not trained since an early age at those things. This, all because my parents were indoctrinated to do the "sure thing" and the "safe thing" and figured it would be good for me as well, thus discouraging those pursuits, and having me focus more on standard traditional school work, as if I couldn't do all of it.

I don't think this indoctrination by itself is a good thing. Risk taking and dreaming ought to be promoted while raising your children with a firm grounding in reality, and an understanding in what it takes to succeed at anything. "Go to school and get a job and pay off debt, and buy a house and retire" is far from the only reality. It's the sure one, but it's also the average, mundane and unextraordinary one.

About the world needing cogs for the machine: I don't want that for MY children, and I don't want that for myself. So I won't raise them that way, and I'll work not to be that way. You may be right with that line, but I don't worry about it, because the indoctrination has a rock solid grip on our populace.

[Animeniax]

If you say "indoctrination" one more time, I'm going to cut your nuts off.

I believe in taking risks and trying new things, but if you are properly prepared and educated, then they aren't really risks, or at least they are reduced risks so it's for all intents and purposes a "sure thing". Maybe when you have the responsibilities that your parents had then you will understand why they made the choices they did.

[Assertn]

I've found in this life that too many people want to be superstars when the world needs more cogs for the machine.
Oh no...a lot of people I talk to are afraid of taking chances and, while I don't sympathize with that sentiment, I am certainly glad these people exist, because the greatest asset of a business owner is his employees.

[Uchiha Barles]

If you say "indoctrination" one more time, I'm going to cut your nuts off.

I believe in taking risks and trying new things, but if you are properly prepared and educated, then they aren't really risks, or at least they are reduced risks so it's for all intents and purposes a "sure thing". Maybe when you have the responsibilities that your parents had then you will understand why they made the choices they did.

That's exactly the point. All it takes is a little bit of education, a little bit of cojones, and all of a sudden these "risks" become almost non risks. It's one of the biggest inside jokes of all times. And no, there's no chance in hell I'll ever understand limiting my children's options to the social standard when I have all the necessary resources not to.

[Animeniax]

That's exactly the point. All it takes is a little bit of education, a little bit of cojones, and all of a sudden these "risks" become almost non risks. It's one of the biggest inside jokes of all times. And no, there's no chance in hell I'll ever understand limiting my children's options to the social standard when I have all the necessary resources not to.
Because your parents did the right thing in raising you so you have the resources and are prepared to live the life of danger.

I think what you and Assertn both have is youthful exuberance. You're both at an age where you have limited responsibilities to anyone but yourself, so its easier to take risks or make changes in your life. In the olden days, people became parents sooner so they had to make different choices because they were thinking beyond how it would impact just themselves.

[Uchiha Barles]

Donald Trump, Warren Buffet, Sean Combs, Robert Kiyosaki, just to name a few people, had that "youthful exuberance" you're mentioning, all of them now filthy rich, and able to provide a million times over anything their families could ever need, anything their families could possibly want. There are a many, many (though comparatively fewer) others who don't even even come close to their level of success, but leave the vast majority of us in the dust, at least when it comes to financial success. It's not "youthful exuberance" that drives these people. I mean, it might be, but it's not the only thing, it's also a pretty good understanding of how one reaches whatever success they've attained, and also having overcome gotten over the "you'll probably fail" message that they've been hearing all their lives. Raising your kids, you ought not limit their scope. Instead, you should show them what it takes to make something happen, and try to set bench marks with them. They can then decide if they're cut out for what they're trying to do or not. Furthermore, none of this has to come at the expense of preparing to enter the work force. It also has the benifit of getting rid of this silly, silly fear of trying something positive because their neighbors, classmates, teachers and friends aren't.

[Animeniax]

Nah, all of them got lucky off one or two deals that paid off. If it takes 100 failures before you reach 1 success, how many will have suffered during the time that success occurs? And is financial success all you're concerned about? I think it was P Diddy himself who said "mo money, mo problems."

[Uchiha Barles]

As I mentioned before, my dream as a kid was to be a professional musician or martial artist. I didn't need to be a rock star or to choreograph fight scenes along side Donnie yen. So no, money's not the ONLY thing on my mind.

All of them got lucky? You said yourself, and I'll quote again: "but if you are properly prepared and educated, then they aren't really risks, or at least they are reduced risks so it's for all intents and purposes a 'sure thing'." You make it seem like these people walked into a building, flipped a coin and bought it on the basis of the coin flip, or sneezed on a paper and bought whatever "lucky" stock the booger landed on. No, they had an idea in their heads of what a "good risk" was, most of them from proper education about the risks they chose to take, and found a risk that fit the "good risk model" they had in their heads. So they took it, and it payed off.

I asked a friend of mine once why he didn't invest his inheritance money into real estate, and said "it's too risky." When I asked him if he knew anything about something called "equity", he said "no". I asked him this after I asked if he knew anything about real estate, to which he replied "yes." So basically, he doesn't know what he means by "too risky". Probably never researched it, and his understanding of "too risky" was probably implanted him by someone or some people who themselves knew nothing of it. Last I checked, he bought a car, has most of the money in a back account, and a small portion invested in an unremarkable mutual fund. That last part may seem like a good idea, but agian, It's basically someone else having control of his cash.

[Animeniax]

Well lucky for him he didn't follow your risky scheme to buy real estate, what with the housing market falling out in the past year. He might owe more than the house is worth now. His parents didn't work all their lives to leave him an inheritance that he can squander away on risky deals. He owes them better.

[Uchiha Barles]

Anyone who knows a little bit about real estate knows that the housing market works in cycles. Anyone who knows a bit more knows that if you bought a worthwhile piece of property, it barely matters when you bought it if you can hold on to it. His inheritance was more than large enough to do that. As in, buy a good piece of property, and sit on it. Anyone who knows a little bit over that much, knows how squeeze a deal no matter what the market looks like. Following my advice blindly would've been foolish. Following it after having taken four months to read up on the subject, and seeking out the advice of some professionals after having done some self education, would've made him a millionaire three times over by now, or in the forseable future.

He owes himself better than to follow blindly.

[Animeniax]

It sounds like you have more confidence in your friend and more aspirations for his money than is warranted.

If making money from real estate was that easy and assured, we'd all be rich.

[Assertn]

If making money from real estate was that easy and assured, we'd all be rich.
"Easy" is a very subjective concept.
For example, it would seem "easy" to put your money into solid stocks and sit on it for 10 years. However, far too many people make the mistake of buying high and selling low.

fear, impatience, greed, and haste can turn something that's easy into something that's complicated.

[Uchiha Barles]

It sounds like you have more confidence in your friend and more aspirations for his money than is warranted.

If making money from real estate was that easy and assured, we'd all be rich.

I'd mentioned something about an education component to this. The four month estimate I made in the previous post was particular to my friend, who is rather intelligent. Might take someone with less intelligence a year. I have no aspirations for his money. I made a suggestion a few years ago, probed a bit when he said no, and didn't think about it again until this discussion, when bringing him up as an example was useful. Unwillingness to learn and fear is what hold most people back from even trying. Impatience and emotional decision making is what causes a lot of people who do have the proper knowledge to fail. It seems rather simple to me.

[Animeniax]

What I don't get is employee mentality.
company pride/spirit, corporate politics, climbing the business ladder.

For some reason people love this stuff. I don't understand it.
The Onion producers must visit these forums:
Young people remain apathetic about office politics (http://www.theonion.com/content/video/study_finds_young_people_remain)

[Stitch]

There are 5,000+ members registered at GotWoot forums.

Only three or four post everyday.

When did GotWoot become such a ghost town?

[Animeniax]

I think more than 3 or 4 post everyday. Maybe 9-10 people.

I asked a similar question not long ago. I think part of it is because it's summer vacation. The other part is that AOne doesn't sub Naruto anymore, so people don't come here to download the torrent or stay to discuss the episode.

What I don't get is, in Will Smith's song "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It", he claims he likes Cuban cigars "for the look, but I don't light it". So basically he's admitting he's a poser. Why would he do that?

[Sapphire]

Because fashion is more important to him than character?

[Buffalobiian]

I think more than 3 or 4 post everyday. Maybe 9-10 people.

I asked a similar question not long ago. I think part of it is because it's summer vacation. The other part is that AOne doesn't sub Naruto anymore, so people don't come here to download the torrent or stay to discuss the episode.

Plus, they're not speedsubbers, who generally attract a lot of attention and traffic, nor do they release discussion worthy subs regularly. Don't get me wrong, I love you guys, and just keep doing what you do. It's just that you can't help but deny that it's the reason for members going idle.

[Board of Command]

Because fashion is more important to him than character?
Or it could be that he had to do multiple shots for the video, and lighting a new cigar in each one for few seconds of footage would be a huge waste.

[Sapphire]

Oh snaps. That's actually neat. Think of him incorporating that into his song lyrics just to save money on the video. Oh Will, that money saver.

Ani: Why do you know the lyrics to Gettin Jiggy With It?

[Animeniax]

Some critic once said that Will Smith makes rap accessible to white America. While I'm not a white American, the sentiment still applies to me. I actually liked this song too, as much as I liked MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This".


Or it could be that he had to do multiple shots for the video, and lighting a new cigar in each one for few seconds of footage would be a huge waste.He could have sold each one on eBay and made millions.

For sale: Cuban cigar used in rap music video, only lit once, guaranteed to contain an ounce of spit and teeth marks from celebrity actor/singer Will Smith, starting bid $5.

[Uchiha Barles]

That's funny...most rap records are sold to "white america", and will smith just isn't very relevant in the scene, clubs, or anything else involving rap and hip hop. Not even at the time the song came out. Rap is plenty accessible to "white america."

Edited to turn gibberish into english.

[Animeniax]

What I don't get is, if your avatar represents you, why do guys use a picture of some hot chick as their avatar?

[Buffalobiian]

What I don't get is why video container formats take so long to get into mainstream use and home entertainment machines. Only in the last, say 2 years from what I've seen, have we really "accepted" mp4 as a widely accepted format on machines like PS3 and such. The format was first approved in 1998.

[Psyke]

It's sad that so many video formats are not recognised by the PS3. It would really be so much more useful if we can play more formats via streaming.

[Kraco]

Sony being the company behind the infamous rootkit scandal it's no wonder why PS3 is stiff and wouldn't accept formats commonly used for illicit purposes.

[Jaitne]

What I don't get is how some rockers can roar/scream and do it so naturally. Most of the time it doesn't even make you wince.

[Uchiha Barles]

What I don't get is how some rockers can roar/scream and do it so naturally. Most of the time it doesn't even make you wince.

If you're talking about Michael Akerfeldt from Opeth, then you ought to consider the rumor that he contracted a demon for this talent. A rumor started by me.

[The Heretic Azazel]

Akerfeldt is a demon.

[Animeniax]

What I don't get is, is it pronounced "Code Gay-ass" or "Code Geees".

[darkmetal505]

I mix them and say "Gee-ass"

[Jaitne]

It's like pronouncing "Gay ass" with a British accent. I like to Americanize it because the Japanese should have known not to make a word that.. when Americanized sounds that way.

It's actually pronounced like.. Gee-ahss, but there's no fun with that :(

[XanBcoo]

What I don't get is, is it pronounced "Code Gay-ass" or "Code Geees".
If I'm not mistaken, it's a Celtic word, so it would probably be "Geh-ahs".

Edit: Well according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settings_and_themes_of_Code_Geass#Geass) it's a corruption of the words "geis" and "geas", and the entries on those words say they're pronounced "Gesh".

That is, with a "sh" and not an "s" ending.

Edit: "E" is not "EI". I'm a Linguist and should know better.

[Jaitne]

Pronounce? (http://community.livejournal.com/code_geass/552646.html)

well, someone went into a long thing about it.

Except, Wikipedia doesn't say that's exactly where the word came from.


"Geass" may be an intentional corruption of the word geas or geis, a term for a type of magical contract in Irish mythology.

So it's their thought on it, it also doesn't go directly into the pronunciation of the word.

Giasu also makes me think it kinda ends with an s sound.

I kinda don't think it's a Celtic word, though. I think it's just emulated off of one.

[XanBcoo]

So it's their thought on it, it also doesn't go directly into the pronunciation of the word.

If you follow the links for "geis" and "geas", a pronunciation is given in IPA. It's identical to the one that is given in the link you posted. I was mistaken earlier when I looked at that page, thinking there was a dipthong after the "e" vowel, but it seems like it's "Gesh" after all.

Case closed.

[Xelbair]

"If it doesn't kill you it can only make you stronger." - someone rips your arms and legs - have it made you stronger? i really hate this proverb and i don't understood it sheer stupidness.
I also don't get fashion trends(does any metalhead understounds them?) its just way to get cash for you for chloths that would not sell otherwise.
Also i don't get xbox fanboyism(and ps3 one too - but in my opinion ps3 is better) - you get weaker console than ps3 and no motion control and you have to pay to play online.

[Assertn]

"If it doesn't kill you it can only make you stronger." - someone rips your arms and legs - have it made you stronger? i really hate this proverb and i don't understood it sheer stupidness.
Have you ever like....went to the gym before?
Or taken some sort of risk with potentially great rewards?

Also if someone rips your arms and legs out, it will probably kill you.

[animus]

That, or you'll suicide from being called stumpy so much.

The PS3 is a better console. Better specs, semi-motion control, slick design, Blu-Ray capability, no RROD problems. However, it's library is shit compared to the 360's, and they don't have any solid exclusives besides MGS4.

[Buffalobiian]

"If it doesn't kill you it can only make you stronger." - someone rips your arms and legs - have it made you stronger? i really hate this proverb and i don't understood it sheer stupidness.

It only works if you're not a dumb ass who can't learn from it.

[Xelbair]

Have you ever like....went to the gym before?
Or taken some sort of risk with potentially great rewards?

Also if someone rips your arms and legs out, it will probably kill you.

yeah i did some hi-risk activities(with not that big rewards but still) and i have been to gym before - this proverb works only for lesser things i agree, and if someone rips your arms and legs and you will get fast medical attention you will live, and it wont ever make you stronger.

also for xbox360 better games library - it had 1 year head start so its normal, also most of those games are for pc too(the ones i'm interested in)

[Animeniax]

If they rip your arms and legs off and you get cybernetic replacements, that would certainly make you stronger. I think the $6 million man only had a robotic hand and thigh, and was a superhero.

[Buffalobiian]

if someone rips your arms and legs and you will get fast medical attention you will live, and it wont ever make you stronger.

If you truly get over it, it makes you a stronger person on the inside.

[Animeniax]

What I don't get is, is it unhealthy to eat shrimp where they don't butterfly it and remove the shit trail?

Do you all eat shrimp with the shit trail still present?

[Buffalobiian]

What I don't get is, is it unhealthy to eat shrimp where they don't butterfly it and remove the shit trail?

Do you all eat shrimp with the shit trail still present?

I don't think it's that bad really, but I've got no evidence to support it.

I really don't care if it's got the trail on it or not. Which ever way it's done, I'll eat it. I haven't had to cook shrimp myself before, but give then chance I'll probably just do whatever takes my fancy.

I notice in restaurants that deshelled prawns always have their trail removed, while the dishes served with intact prawns leave it...well...intact.

May sound like an obvious thing to do for some people, but it must have crossed myself as well as others to ask if we should cut down the back and take the trail, but leaving the rest of the shell on?

On a side note, I'll eat most parts of a shrimp/prawn. I don't always choose to, but I'll eat the flesh, shell, legs and tail. The head doesn't get swallowed, but I suck it dry.

[animus]

How does the head taste? I've never brought myself to eat any heads or come close to it.

[Animeniax]

Shrimp heads aren't usually eaten, though sucking them dry is common.

[Buffalobiian]

It's kind of hard to describe, since it's mostly a cavity filled with whatever sauce it's cooked in, plus whatever organs/brains is inside. It's got a prawn flavour, since you can usually smell it on your hands if you handled them, but it's kind of different from the regular meat. Probably tastes more like the tail.

It's been too long since I've had one to describe accurately, but I'll remember to give an account of it here when I do.

Edit: Ever had the inside of a crab? Not the pincers and legs, but the stuff under the main shell that's not muscle. Or when you scrape the underside of that shell. It sort of resembles that. (though again, slightly different)

[animus]

Sounds interesting.

My cousin likes lobster brain, but I'd probably never bring myself to eat that shit. It's like green and mushy.

[complich8]

Most of the shrimp I've seen served around here has been at least partially peeled and deveined. Which I've got to say is probably the greatest possible euphemism for disembowelment.

What I don't get is why people stay on the gas when the person maybe 3 car lengths in front of them is on the brakes on congested highways at rush hour. I mean ... all you're doing at that point is making yourself brake harder in a couple seconds... it isn't gonna get you there any faster.

[Animeniax]

I used to do that, until my dad corrected me about it. Usually I would gas it until right before a stoplight. Having to pay for my own gas was another reason I quit doing it. Now I coast for a few hundred feet to the stoplight.


My cousin likes lobster brain, but I'd probably never bring myself to eat that shit. It's like green and mushy. We used to eat certain food in dimmed light, so we couldn't see what we were eating. One such delicacy was baby chicken eggs, with the embryo fully formed into a young chick. The yolk was the delicious part, but people would eat the entire thing. Kind of gross thinking back on it.

[The Heretic Azazel]

Welcome to shitty wok can I take ya orda pree?

Andrew Zimmern of the show Bizzare Foods loves those half-born eggs. He says it's like a boiled egg times 10. I should make a thread about that show actually...

What I don't get is when I go to the bank and three or four lanes of the drive-thru are open but everyone's piled in one lane. Then I just coast through the next lane and get my deposit/withdrawal, often before the the first car in the lane even gets his. This obviously doesn't bother me, but damn, who wants to sit in line at the bank all goddamn day?

[Buffalobiian]

1) What goes up must come down.
2) An object launched with a certain velocity straight into the air will undergo deceleration due to gravity. Then, it will accelerate at the same rate, landing with the same initial velocity it started with.

What the hell happens to all the bullets people random shoot into the air?

[Kraco]

Didn't you ever as a kid play the fancy game of trying to shoot straight up with a bow and then excitedly make sure you won't get hit when the arrow comes down?

With an initial speed of 700m/s or so, there's no telling where a bullet will drop but in any case it would be extremely bad luck to receive one. The area of a person isn't very large for an object dropping from above, after all.

[complich8]

Oversimplifying your model is usually bad. Air resistance (both against the flight path and against the projectile's spin), as well as the diameter and weight of the bullet and the trajectory it's shot will determine how it comes down.

It it's a rifled barrel and the spin doesn't dissipate over the course of the flight, it could very well remain ballistic, and would fly at the terminal velocity of a projectile of its size and weight. But if the spin stops and it's even a little asymmetrical, it's likely going to tumble coming down, dropping the terminal velocity even more. At any rate, terminal velocity will be slower than muzzle velocity.

Still, could be dangerous to bystanders, for sure.

[Xelbair]

Add to this weapon parameters - bullets don't always hit in same spot(forgot the eng word for this)...

What i don't get is fanboyism/fangirlism without proper arguments. Its especially annoying on polish main gaming\game shop site(gram.pl) - one of mods there always starts fanboy flamewar.

[Abdula]

What I don't get. My little sister. Its a very long story but I'll try to keep it short. For the last week she has been going on to me about her up coming chemistry exam, which was this past Friday. Anyway she has to declare her major soon and being the busy body she is she can't make a decision, it certainly would help if she wasn't good at everything but no she has to have the Midas touch. Anyway somehow she decided she would decide on a major based on the results from the various exams she had this past week:rolleyes: . Not something you want to decide your major on but whatever. She was leaning towards chemistry but was getting some pressure from her professors to be a physics major since physics majors in her school seem to come around about once a decade.

Anyway sometime Friday night/Saturday morning I don't know which, she checked her grades online and apparently she got a 52.5 on her Chemistry exam and freaked out, and freaked out is an understatement. Anyway I was just laughing at her the whole time, which in retrospect seems cruel but it was really hilarious since everyone knew instinctively that there was some mistake and her results got mixed up with someone else's. Anyway she took it as a sign from God, those were her exact words, that Chemistry is not for her. Now me being the voice of reason that I am, told her to just relax and talk to the teacher today. This morning after talking to her professor, it turns out he really did get her grade mixed up with someone else's, according to her his excuse was he was waiting on a flight at the airport when he decided to post her grades:rolleyes: and apparently caused a bit of chaos when a bunch of people got incorrect grades.

So back to the phone call this morning, she doesn't call to apologize for going on like a mad person earlier, she doesn't say you were right and he got my grades confused with someone else. She calls complaining about .5, I'm like what .5 and then she proceeds to tell me she got a 99.5 on the exam and she was arguing with the professor about the missing .5:rolleyes:


Back to what I don't get. Somehow, somewhere along the line it was decided that it would be best if I chose her major for her:eek:, so little old me who avoids her like the plague just so I don't get into situations like this suddenly has this dropped in my lap and I still don't understand how the hell it happened. Anyway thats my story, anyone understood a word of what I said?.

[The Heretic Azazel]

Your little sister sounds intolerable.

[Abdula]

I get a lot of grief for saying it, but she definitely is.

Still she is my little sister.

[Death BOO Z]

God has issued her a challenge. ask her if she's gonna sit around while god messes with her brain, or if she's gonna study chemistry and find the virus to kill him.

and in less comical manner, she's good at chemistry, she cares enough to argue about the 0.5 points, she should major in it.

[Abdula]

Her mother wants her to do something tangible, like accounting or business management. She now wants to do biology and/or psychology. And like I said the problem is that she is good at everything but I'm trying to stay as far away from this as possible.

[XanBcoo]

I dread the day my sister gets to choose what to do with her life. She wants to be a pop star at the moment, and her mom has encouraged it completely, almost ignoring her amazing scholastic achievements.

What I don't get is why a lot of traffic lights have a single bulb for yellow lights, but an array of LEDs for the red and green lights.

Maybe it's just that way in my area.

[animus]

What I don't get is why you both said "her mom" instead of "our mom". Unless, you guys have different mothers or something. Nothing major, just something I thought was a little strange.

[XanBcoo]

What I don't get is why you both said "her mom" instead of "our mom". Unless, you guys have different mothers or something. Nothing major, just something I thought was a little strange.
Mine is technically my half-sister. I would assume Abdula's case is the same, or maybe they're step-siblings.

[Abdula]

No no, I just like to say "your mom" because our mom still treats her like a baby. Bring you breakfast in bed, tuck you in at night kind of thing.

[Sapphire]

Back to what I don't get. Somehow, somewhere along the line it was decided that it would be best if I chose her major for her:eek:, so little old me who avoids her like the plague just so I don't get into situations like this suddenly has this dropped in my lap and I still don't understand how the hell it happened. Anyway thats my story, anyone understood a word of what I said?.
Tell her she doesn't need to decide her major for two years. If she really doesn't know, then she can just get all of her required classes like English and Social studies out of the way. And if she decides not to do science, at least she has a semester's worth of required science credit.

PS - But if she's Chemistry she should probably complete taking Chem now, cuz next year it's Organic chem then Pchem/Bchem, depending if she's a biocemist or just a normal chemist. Then senior year it's just independant research stuff. Bio is an easier major she can consider, and is less rigorous in course load.

[Animeniax]

Biology is way too much memorization. Chemistry isn't much different, though it requires you to string concepts together to learn the material, and biology doesn't.

I would agree with Sapphire about not rushing on declaring a major since it could decide your career path, but don't push it off too long. If you take all the English/History/Foreign Language classes in the first two years, you won't be able to use them as filler in your junior and senior years when you're taking difficult courses that apply to your major. Also, if you decide on a major after 2 years, it increases the likelihood you will take longer than 4 years to complete a degree, since upper level classes have prerequisites that could take a few semesters to acquire.

[Kraco]

Her mother wants her to do something tangible, like accounting or business management.

With banks and businesses going down like weeds before a scythe, chemistry certainly sounds a lot more tangible than accounting or business management (although god knows sensible accounting and business management would have been needed in the past).

[Abdula]

Which is exactly why I put it in italics Kraco

Tell her she doesn't need to decide her major for two years. If she really doesn't know, then she can just get all of her required classes like English and Social studies out of the way. And if she decides not to do science, at least she has a semester's worth of required science credit.
Well she is already in her second year, the required classes are already out of the way and she has to declare this year. Oh and Ani thanks to her crazy workload, she already has her prerequisites for whatever she is likely do. Whether its psychology, biology, physics or chemistry she is covered. Heck she could even do music or theater, she is pretty well rounded.

Anyway thats enough about her.

Oh and for the person who asked. Yes she is hot:p

[Sapphire]

Oh and for the person who asked. Yes she is hot:p
Wut!


Well she is already in her second year, the required classes are already out of the way and she has to declare this year.

She's in Orgo chem then? Psych through Bio/Chem etc basically have the same prereqs, so she can easily do a double major. I know someone who almost decided to major in Chem/Bio/Econ because to a certain point they have similar classes. She could always go to NYU Gallatin and take whatever she wants and make her own major. =P (Several people do this, like my friend is majoring in technology and society, thus taking sociology, chemistry, physics, math, and psychology courses, and another is majoring in like comic books, so business and art classes, and Japanese)

[animus]

Oh? You go to NYU Sapphire?

<- High School slacker/dumbass, going to St. John's (You might not know what it is, since it's a meh Uni).

[Sapphire]

Oh? You go to NYU Sapphire?

<- High School slacker/dumbass, going to St. John's (You might not know what it is, since it's a meh Uni).
I don't know much about it, but I think people mention it sometimes. How is it?

[animus]

It's aight, the only really good program here is the Pharmacy one and Law.

[Abdula]

Wut!
Someone actually asked if she was hot in a rep:rolleyes:


She's in Orgo chem then?
Just about to start but she doesn't seem to be too interested in it.

make her own major. =P (Several people do this, like my friend is majoring in technology and society, thus taking sociology, chemistry, physics, math, and psychology courses, and another is majoring in like comic books, so business and art classes, and Japanese)
That option is an option but the problem is her indecisiveness. Anyway like I said enough about her.

@ Animus: Manhattan?

[animus]

Naw, I live in Manhattan, but I commute to Queens.

[Animeniax]

Let's keep this thread clean folks, back on topic or some moderator will have to do his job, and we don't want that.

[Sapphire]

Oh crap.. I thought this was the FP! lol

What I don't get...

.....School!

[Abdula]

Naw, I live in Manhattan, but I commute to Queens.
Really why? Actually you don't have to answer. I know someone who went to Manhattan.

Let's keep this thread clean folks, back on topic or some moderator will have to do his job, and we don't want that.
:confused: I thought this thread was in the pit. They could just move it to the college thread. (http://forums.gotwoot.net/showthread.php?t=15122&highlight=College)

[Sapphire]

Zomg animus we live like three miles apart! (more or less)

[animus]

Zomg animus we live like three miles apart! (more or less)

Nice, we can go and fight crime.

Which campus do you go to? I was at 8th and Broadway earlier preordering a game from GameStop.

[Sapphire]

omg~~ Yeah my campus is right there in Washington Square Park. I live on 14th.

[Kraco]

Alright, that's enough. This isn't a thread about your colleges/universities. Unless you don't get the location of your own school, which would be something inexcusable.

[Sapphire]

Sorry.

I don't get why some fangirls speak in high pitched tones and kawaiiness even though it's real life.. XD

[XanBcoo]

Because they think it makes them look cute. I know someone who does that, and others who ball their fists up and place them in front of their mouths when they get excited.

It's obnoxious in anime, and it's even more obnoxious in real life.

[Buffalobiian]

What I don't get:

http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/367/4216986013py8.jpg

Crossed legs. Hollywood will have us believe that a man sitting like that is either:

a) gay
b) bi
c) both

Being the American followers that Australians are, it's also the general consensus here, and I'm pretty sure it's happening in other places. However, this practice has no such connotations in Europe and Asian cultures as far as I'm aware of.

Seriously, it's not like crossing your legs means you've got smaller balls or dick anyway. Even if you do, that says nothing about your sexual orientation. So how did crossing your legs become something only feminine beings should do?

I don't get it.

[animus]

I don't know about other guys, but crossing my legs is hella uncomfortable.

[Abdula]

I've been doing that a lot lately for some reason, its weird I know but I just find myself in that position alot, I actually am sitting like that right now. I prefer the figure 4 position though but I always end up like this.

[Animeniax]

I find the figure 4 position makes my knees ache after a short time. I like crossing my legs because the pressure on the legs seems to take pressure off my back.

As for it being a gay thing, I've never really heard that. I think it's something sophisticated or people in good shape do (usually hand in hand in the metrosexual crowd). Imagine your average 250 lb construction worker trying to cross his legs like that.

[Kraco]

This is the first time I've heard such a claim as well. I'm not any breakdown case needing to fidget all the time but still I like to change my sitting position every now and then and crossing your legs is just one way of doing it. And of course if it's cold where you are sitting it's more comfortable, and I belong to those people who feel cold easily.

[Buffalobiian]

Wow, serious? Guess this is a lot more Australian than I thought.

I myself sit quite often in that position at home, but drop it in public.

[Sapphire]

A lot of girls sit like that here, if they are trying to be girly in public. I might sit like that because my legs ache and I want them in a different position. I see guys sometimes do it, but they only look more comfortable that way.

[Buffalobiian]

When I do it, it usually also involves me putting my elbow on my top thigh, and either supporting my chin with that arm, or just have my hand over the bottom half of my face in some manner. It's kind of like a habit.

[Raven]

I sit like that a fair bit, then again I do work in an office and it seems to be a more professional type of position. I've never heard of it being gay, though.

[Buffalobiian]

I sit like that a fair bit, then again I do work in an office and it seems to be a more professional type of position. I've never heard of it being gay, though.

It's just my school then? :(

Man, to think I had to be that self conscious when I could have just changed schools :p

So seriously, No.4 position has no negative connotations elsewhere? I'm starting to feel like I've been living under a rock. Maybe a rock made out of peer pressure/manipulated info.

[Sapphire]

When I was younger it might have been like that. But only because little kids are mostly prejudice and like to make fun of whatever they can that's not acceptable to their preconceived standards.

[Xrlderek]

It was like that in my previous school... If you sat like that, you'd surely be poked by an embarrassed friend. "..Hey.. don't sit like that.. ". It hasn't really been like that for the last one and a half years though, I sit that way sometimes now.

[Animeniax]

What I don't get... why do hip-hoppers always feel the need to share their f*cking music with everyone else? They play that sh*t as loud as possible, possibly because they assume everyone else likes that sh*t. That's a baseless assumption and those people need to f*cking learn some consideration for others.

[The Heretic Azazel]

Do you mean playing the music in their automobiles? I love shooting through town blasting black metal and keep my windows down because it's cool outside. And music has to be loud as possible, there's no point in listening to it otherwise

[Animeniax]

I mean all the time. If you're cruising by and I have to listen to your music for 5 seconds as you pass, that's no big deal. If you park your car outside my office and blast your music, that's a problem. If you play music out loud on your computer in a shared office, that's a problem. Get some headphones, a**wipe.

[Xelbair]

I hate that too - but some sick F***s got so loud headphones that make same effect - and they destroy their ears too.
Also i completly agree with The Heretic Azazel - driving by with metal(listening to metal here is very rare - most ppl are rap/hiphop/techno maniacs) i kinda cool.

[XanBcoo]

I'm a "playing of loud music while driving" fan too. If I can hear myself talk, it's not loud enough. Difference I'm always playing something different. For example, today was Stevie Wonder/Michael Jackson. The bass break at 2:09 of Do I do (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6f6BOKXXxg) can never be played too loudly.

Speaking of which, here's what I don't get:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4918/michaelsmoothcriminalgb2.jpg

[Abdula]

Thats an easy one. MJ can defy gravity, if you were black you would already know this.:p

[The Heretic Azazel]

Vitiligo makes you a dancing machine.

What I don't get is Joe the plumber. Joe the fucking plumber. This idiot thinks he'll get a tax break under McCain's economic policy but he won't. He wants to buy a business when he's not even licensed to do what he does. And he has the absolute nerve to go on the news show Hannity and Colmes (which is what I watch when I feel like getting pissed off) and say he was standing in his lawn minding his own business when Obama approached him. Damn America, if you're going to pick an idol of the working class and thrust them in the media spotlight, it could at least be someone who wasn't a bald neanderthal, who could articulate him/herself. The guy is eating this shit up, the media is so fucking annoying. Come to think of it, this man could be me instead, and Azazel the non-profit charity telefundraiser has a much better ring to it. I would tell it like it is.

I wish he and Palin would disappear, they make my head hurt

[Psyke]

For Xan. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FqGjYH3GBE)

[Animeniax]

That lean seems only slightly less impossible than the David Blaine levitation illusion. Did they ever disprove either as camera or invisible string tricks?

[XanBcoo]

That lean seems only slightly less impossible than the David Blaine levitation illusion. Did they ever disprove either as camera or invisible string tricks?
He had 2 variations: One was a simple illusion where he raised the heel of one foot, and the other foot completely, making it seem like he was floating. The other variation filmed people looking surprised as he "levitated" using a big machine to lift him up.

I recall seeing a television show explaining this, but here's a blurb on it: http://magic.about.com/od/biosonfamousmagicians/a/012406blaine_2.htm

[Assertn]

Vitiligo makes you a dancing machine.

What I don't get is Joe the plumber. Joe the fucking plumber. This idiot thinks he'll get a tax break under McCain's economic policy but he won't. He wants to buy a business when he's not even licensed to do what he does. And he has the absolute nerve to go on the news show Hannity and Colmes (which is what I watch when I feel like getting pissed off) and say he was standing in his lawn minding his own business when Obama approached him. Damn America, if you're going to pick an idol of the working class and thrust them in the media spotlight, it could at least be someone who wasn't a bald neanderthal, who could articulate him/herself. The guy is eating this shit up, the media is so fucking annoying. Come to think of it, this man could be me instead, and Azazel the non-profit charity telefundraiser has a much better ring to it. I would tell it like it is.

I wish he and Palin would disappear, they make my head hurt
It's true though.

Obama's tax policy would have my company potentially pay $100k more in taxes. We'd have to lay people off.

[darkshadow]

It's just my school then? :(

Man, to think I had to be that self conscious when I could have just changed schools :p

So seriously, No.4 position has no negative connotations elsewhere? I'm starting to feel like I've been living under a rock. Maybe a rock made out of peer pressure/manipulated info.

No, crossed legs has the same gay meaning here in the netherlands for some reason, i never understood why either.

[The Heretic Azazel]

It's true though.

Obama's tax policy would have my company potentially pay $100k more in taxes. We'd have to lay people off.

It was more a rant on the annoying media, not tax policy. I can understand that as an actual business owner, unlike the aforementioned guy whose name I will not repeat, you're having concerns about this.

[Animeniax]

What I don't get is, why is Abdula suddenly visible in the currently active users list? Is this the first big change of Obama's presidency?

[Abdula]

If you were paying attention you would have noticed it two days ago and not, just now.

[Animeniax]

So you went by the entrance polls instead of waiting for the actual election to conclude?

[Abdula]

What I don't get is why you think this has anything to do with the election.

[Animeniax]

They seem to coincide is all. I've never believed in coincidences. There are causes and there are effects.

[Buffalobiian]

Imagine if Abdula was Obama IRL....

[Animeniax]

I've always imagined that's what he looks like, thin and black, but with glasses.

[Assertn]

I've always imagined that's what he looks like, thin and black, but with glasses.
I imagine he'd also look sickly. What with having every illness known to man and all.

[Buffalobiian]

I imagine he'd also look sickly. What with having every illness known to man and all.

Abdula has AIDS?

[Animeniax]

One of his other diseases cancels out the effects of AIDS. If we could figure out which, we could make a vaccine and be rich.

I don't get why every time I approach my weight loss goals, I start eating indiscriminately again. I've almost gotten rid of this slight pooch of a belly, but this morning I had two (small) eclairs with my omelet, 3 strips of bacon, kiwi, and juice box. 700 calorie breakfasts followed by 3 hours of sitting on my ass in the office will not help me achieve my fitness targets.

[XanBcoo]

One of his other diseases cancels out the effects of AIDS. If we could figure out which, we could make a vaccine and be rich.
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/3558/3stoogessyndromejs0.jpg


As for your diet, I guess it all comes down to self control.

[Buffalobiian]

My diet's been fluctuating too.

Yesterday and two days before, I skipped breakfast and lunch, then had a small dinner.

I between those days, I had 4 Instant Noodles for lunch. I thought I was too old for that.

[Abdula]

Imagine if Abdula was Obama IRL....

I've always imagined that's what he looks like, thin and black, but with glasses.

I imagine he'd also look sickly. What with having every illness known to man and all.

Abdula has AIDS?

One of his other diseases cancels out the effects of AIDS. If we could figure out which, we could make a vaccine and be rich.

Oh wow. You guys do realize that this is General Discussion right.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't get how I got a knot in my hair. Not in a bunch of hair, but a single strand of hair. It was probably only 4cm long as well. What the?

[Animeniax]

I don't get how I got a knot in my hair. Not in a bunch of hair, but a single strand of hair. It was probably only 4cm long as well. What the?
It's like how people tie a cherry wig into a knot in their mouths. Takes some dexterity, or utter randomness that results in the desired effect, kind of like spraying and praying in FPSes.

[animus]

I don't get how I got a knot in my hair. Not in a bunch of hair, but a single strand of hair. It was probably only 4cm long as well. What the?

I did it to you while you were sleeping.

[saman]

i woke up today to find my nose pin on my pillow and the backing of it still in my nose. that was...weird.

[DB_Hunter]

Many an explaination can be provided for that, some innocent and some not so innocent. The point is however - you wear a nose pin??? Only aunties wear those.....

[saman]

hahaha maybe five years ago. but i know so many girls my age or younger who have nose piercings now, it's kinda nuts. i guess it's like platform shoes or something, an old fad coming back.

[Buffalobiian]

MSN on mobile phones.....Is it really that much cheaper?!?

[Mr Squiggles]

Does being cold and calculating mean you're a terrible person or is it just an unfortunate side effect of being intelligent?

[David75]

Does being cold and calculating mean you're a terrible person or is it just an unfortunate side effect of being intelligent?


Well, calculating needs some brains, being cold does not rely on that quality.
Having both makes someone terrible in our societies, yet it can be useful having someone like that in a team of people working towards the same goal.

Now being smart having those side effects?
Well I don't think so. At some point, you can really see through things and understand feelings are so important you can't just hold them in. It all comes from the idea that the spirit is separated from the body and its needs, which is totally wrong, but still pertains in some "intelligentia" puritain circles and lives on in many families.

I think that smart people who are cold and calculating are 50% responsible, and the 50other % come from awful parents that are dumb enough to place image and societal burdens before happiness and feelings when its possible to accomodate everything without mutually excluding them.

There's a power in a sexual relationship filled with feelings that is as important and thrilling as using one's brain a full capacity on a subject. Heaven is when sex is the subject of course.

[Uchiha Barles]

I think being "cold and calculating" is usually just a term used for people who base their decisions on logical deductions. Calculations can be wrong, and if they're wrong often enough, then it's probably not a side effect of being intelligent. So the "calculating" and "intelligence" are mutually exclusive. The cold part comes when a decision needs to be made based on the calculations even though emotions have to be set aside (be they your own or those of others). Most people I know who've had to make such decisions, and did, were not "cold" about it. They simply made the best choice they could. Over time, though, I can imagine that it becomes easier to make such decisions if you're often in situations where you have to make them, but that's probably not true for everyone, and if its true for most, I don't know if the emotional component is any less poignant. You probably just get better at dealing with it.. I think that in general, "cold" and "calculating" are also mutually exclusive.

Personally, I can't think of a many situations where being calculating wasn't an advantage, even when it came to dealing with the emotions of others. In fact, in those cases, the calculations made me seem warm and thoughtful...

[Buffalobiian]

"Cold" and "calculating" have no direct connections with intelligence. They're qualities of one's character, independent of abilities.

I take "cold" to be disregarding emotions. Calculating means weighing up all the pros and cons before making a decision.

"Cold and calculating" is simply the case where emotions aren't a factor in the weighing.

[Xelbair]

Which is impossible, because all our choices are influenced by emotions.

[Abdula]

Which is impossible, because all our choices are influenced by emotions.
So you're a slave to your emotions huh:p

[Xelbair]

Everyone is, its impossible to completely block your emotions, but still I'm trying to when I'm making serious decisions.

[Buffalobiian]

I agree that we all have emotions, more or less. It's also possible though, that if a person consciously thinks emotions should not be taken into account in decisions, then they can make a decision based on logic and rules alone. Not so much blocking, but acknowledging and disregarding.

You can argue how pure their logic is at this point though. I really can't say.

As with everything, it comes down to relativity. How much disregarding will people see as "cold and calculating"? Depends on what they've been brought up to see as "emotional".

(For example, Australia's last prime minister was in power for ages, and was so right-wing that nowadays, many people regard the tiniest concerns for civil rights, environment etc as outright left wing.)

[Xelbair]

It does not matter if you calculate it while being cool.
Lets say you got to conclusion A, now you just have to follow it. Some time later you are lets say, angry, and you change your conclusion A to conclusion B, which is similar to A but different in small aspects(In long run they will get you to same results but not through same means). Now add to this series of this emotions and changes, and you get completely different conclusion than in the beginning.
Using pure logic is possible to think, but not to act.
Also I think that pure logic takes emotion into account, calculates effects while doing something while being happy, sad, angry, etc. but well, still you will mostly act different than your calculated behavior, because its impossible to take everything into account.

[Idealistic]

What I don't get is, in the VGA awards, how come GTA4 won game of the year, but for best games on PS3 and XBOX360, GTA4 wasn't the best.

Not that I agree with GTA4 being game of the year, just wanted to lawl.

And not that I take the VGA show seriously, as it's entirely stupid(choices-wise), but I just wanted to lawl harder.

[Psyke]

Perhaps it's exclusive..... bagging the game of the year award already means it's the best, so the other games get a chance.

[Ryllharu]

Not quite. It also won Best Performance by a Human Male (Michael Hollick as GTA4 protagonist Nico Bellic) apparently. Which is bullshit, because he was awful, barely sounded Serbian at all. Liam Neeson or Malcolm McDowell from Fallout 3 (despite their fairly limited roles), any of the cast of MGS4, hell, even the dumbass cousin in GTA4 was better acted than Niko.

I didn't even try to finish GTA4, I just stopped playing it because it became too aggravating to go on mini-dates with all your friends. It simply stopped being fun. While I can't say MGS4 is a better game not having played it (I only have a 360) but Fallout 3 was also on the list, and that game was far and away more enjoyable than GTA4.

[Death BOO Z]

Not quite. It also won Best Performance by a Human Male (Michael Hollick as GTA4 protagonist Nico Bellic) apparently.

Human male? is there an award for non-human?

[Buffalobiian]

An animal perhaps?

[Animeniax]

Not quite. It also won Best Performance by a Human Male (Michael Hollick as GTA4 protagonist Nico Bellic) apparently. Which is bullshit, because he was awful, barely sounded Serbian at all. Liam Neeson or Malcolm McDowell from Fallout 3 (despite their fairly limited roles), any of the cast of MGS4, hell, even the dumbass cousin in GTA4 was better acted than Niko.
I thought the Nico in GTA4 was well done, but he was too fluent in English for someone fresh out of the old country. Also, a real Serb or anyone from that region would not pronounce it "bell-lick". All "-ic" names are pronounced "itch". Supposedly they did that back in the 1940s and 50s to distance themselves from the Germans.

[Psyke]

I'm around 75% through Ultimate Mission Mode in Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm. I understand that we will get DLC in the form of support characters each month till next March. What I don't understand is, why some people are gullible enough to believe that we should be thankful for all these additional contents, when they are obviously on the disk to begin with (heck you even fight them). Shouldn't they realise that instead of getting what they paid for immediately, they are forced to wait for a patch every 4 weeks to use them?

I'm a bit amazed at the way how some people think..... unless of course, CyberConnect decides to provide downloads with new content not on the disk. But so far, nothing has been announced and I highly doubt it. They'll just announce a new game to tide over all the commotion.

[darkshadow]

That's just Namco Bandai's strategy, to artificially prolong the length of the game with "free updates" which are just unlock keys, CC2 has no say in this.
After all the "free" content, Namco Bandai will yell: "hey look! we gave you all the free content, so you wouldn't mind paying for this newer content right!?", and present us with paid dlc.
Which might be worth it though, like actually new playable chars.

[Idealistic]

Man they do that with Soul Calibur 4 too. All the DLC they give us are already on the disc and it costs like $2 per pack and there's like 3 or 4. Heck, getting Yoda or Vader costs $5. I didn't even bother with these DLC. lol... And then supposedly an expansion will be coming out for it sometime in spring, and I'm sure it will cost like $40.

[Lyzuu]

What I don't get is how a pain reliever works. Can anyone explain this to me (backaches, stomaches, and any aches)?

[Buffalobiian]

What I don't get is how a pain reliever works. Can anyone explain this to me (backaches, stomaches, and any aches)?

Loads of stuff works differently, via different mechanisms.

1) General pain relief - paracetamol: mechanism is debatable. In the past, it's thought to inhibit the COX1/2 feedback, leading to reduced pain, yet minimal anti-inflammatory effect. It's also thought to be selective for targets in the brain, making it ideal for headaches, but rather useless for inflammatory pain. It has a very good side effect profile, making it a very safe drug when taken at therapeutic doses, but overdosing can have severe consequences

2) Inflammatory pain relief - NSAIDS: These work by directly inhibiting the COX-1/2 enzymes, in turn inhibiting inflammatory mediators and reducing inflammation. NSAIDS that block both COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes are subject to gastro-intestinal side effects, primarily due to COX-1 inhibition. COX-2 selective inhibiting NSAIDS have a much lower affinity for COX-1 receptors, and so incidence of GI side effects through use are much lower. However, highly selective COX-2 inhibitors will cause increased levels of pro-clotting factors, increasing the risk of stroke.

3) Opioid pain relievers - These pain killers work by binding to certain (and sometimes multiple) opioid receptors. According to a paper "Opioids, to varying degrees, may antagonize Nmethyl-
D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, activating the
descending serotonin and noradrenaline pain pathways
from the brain stem. Stimulation of these same
NMDA receptors may result in neuropathic pain and
the development of tolerance"

4) Stomach aches (indigestion, heart burn, reflux): These types of pain are caused by the excess of stomach acid and/or poor closing of your sphincter, causing gastric juices to reflux into your esophagus, which has no protective lining. Antacids are simply basic chemicals designed to neutralise stomach acid. More potent drugs include Proton Pump Inhibitors and H2-Antagonists. These aim to reduce your production of stomach acid.

There's a brief outline of the differences. By no means is this all there is to know. If you want to know more, you can try wiki, the references they use, and other medical search engines like Pubmed. (in increasing order of accuracy).

[Lyzuu]

Thanks for the information, Buffalobiian!

[Nadouku]

However, highly selective COX-2 inhibitors will cause increased levels of pro-clotting factors, increasing the risk of stroke.

Hmm... that's interesting. Not knowing the differences can be really life threatening. :o

[Xelbair]

Bill, did/are you finished/ going at some kind of chemical/medical studies?
I don't get why people sometimes get Christmas hype 3 months before it.

[Buffalobiian]

Hmm... that's interesting. Not knowing the differences can be really life threatening. :o

It sure is. Good thing is that national governing bodies like the FDA in the US and the TGA in Australia keep an eye out for these things and take them off the market as soon as the risks are deemed unacceptable. The ones out there are relatively safe, except if you've got a past history of strokes maybe.


Thanks for the information, Buffalobiian!

No problem. I hoped it made sense. I was trying to make it informative without loading on jargon. Googling any terms should help.


Bill, did/are you finished/ going at some kind of chemical/medical studies?

Yeah, I'm half way through a 4 year Pharmacy degree. NM's doing one too, so maybe he can pick out anything I missed (if he signs in :p)


I don't get why people sometimes get Christmas hype 3 months before it.

Because there's nothing better to do? (I don't know :p). Here, we've got a general rule of not decorating your house in Xmas stuff before December, or it's unlucky. I think that's just to keep the kids quiet a little longer though.

I don't mind the earlier hype. Hopefully store will start their Xmas discounts earlier too.

[Xelbair]

I think i will go at IT or physics and maths after finishing high school.
and i also don't get why guys from biological-chemical class(biol-chem in short) are all weirdos in Poland, i haven't met any normal person from this type of class.(same thing can be said 'bout maths-science but we are f****d up in the right way ^^)

[Buffalobiian]

I don't get why my body hair ranges from jet black to medium brown....

[saman]

good to know, bill. good to know.

i don't get how people can be such babies sometimes.

[Nadouku]

Why are "diet" drinks more dangerous than a regular drink (Coke versus Diet Coke)?

[Kraco]

Bah. I bet there are 99% more people dying of cardiovascular diseases due to being overweight than any possible poisonings or carcinogenic effects caused by artificial sweeteners.

I don't drink amazing amounts of sodas, but when I do, I mainly drink light versions, and will continue to. I get energy plentifully enough without needing to get it from something I drink. Water doesn't contain energy, so soda doesn't need it either.

[darkshadow]

If you are going to drink some "light" product, at least drink coca cola zero, it has about half of the sweeteners cola light has, and it tastes almost like regular cola, instead of that shitty cola light taste.

That said I rarely drink cola, don't think it tastes that good in the first place

[Xelbair]

Water is the best, and fresh juices!
But i have to admit - i like pepsi.

[Nadouku]

Bah. I bet there are 99% more people dying of cardiovascular diseases due to being overweight than any possible poisonings or carcinogenic effects caused by artificial sweeteners.

Hmm, that is true, but I'm just curious why they're more potentially health dangerous than regular drinks. Someone said they put in excessive amount of "something" to make it 0 calories... and the side-effects are detrimental to your health.


I don't drink amazing amounts of sodas, but when I do, I mainly drink light versions, and will continue to. I get energy plentifully enough without needing to get it from something I drink. Water doesn't contain energy, so soda doesn't need it either.

What are some of the names of the drinks that you drink? :p

I mainly drink juice, but that might be a preference when I was little, to be honest.

[David75]

I almost stopped colas from the time when foam began to want to go up my throat and out.
That's an incredibly awful sensation, not particularly painful, just awful.
I guess that sometimes what you have in your stomach just produces a strong reaction where gazes are produced too quickly when cola goes there, creating the effect.

Much like the mentos/coca effect I guess.

[Animeniax]

I stopped drinking colas almost 10 years ago, when a gf said how bad it was for you. It really is just empty calories. Of course, I love fruit juices but they are so often so processed and sugary that they are almost as bad as colas, but you can't remove all bad stuff from your diet. Now I mostly drink tea and juice.

[XanBcoo]

I stopped drinking colas almost 10 years ago, when a gf said how bad it was for you. It really is just empty calories. Of course, I love fruit juices but they are so often so processed and sugary that they are almost as bad as colas.
I used to drink V8 Splash (and then V8 fusion) all the time until I realized how much sugar they put in that stuff.

Like you, I also gave up drinking sodas. I didn't ever try drinking Diet sodas as a replacement, mainly because I think most of them taste awful, and then because after about 1 week I really didn't miss sodas at all. They're just not good (unless they've got enough vodka in them). However, I really don't buy into the whole
"artificial sweeteners causing cancer" deal. There's literally just as much evidence against it as there is for it. The issue will be debated for centuries, so I wouldn't buy into the scare.

[Animeniax]

I used to drink V8 Splash (and then V8 fusion) all the time until I realized how much sugar they put in that stuff.

Like you, I also gave up drinking sodas. I didn't ever try drinking Diet sodas as a replacement, mainly because I think most of them taste awful, and then because after about 1 week I really didn't miss sodas at all. They're just not good (unless they've got enough vodka in them). However, I really don't buy into the whole
"artificial sweeteners causing cancer" deal. There's literally just as much evidence against it as there is for it. The issue will be debated for centuries, so I wouldn't buy into the scare.I drink plenty of regular V8, haven't checked nutritional information on it though.

I'm the same about diet versions of drinks, never liked how they taste. I don't care about the artificial sweeteners concerns either. It was and is purely a sugar/calorie deal for me.

[Buffalobiian]

It's only until recently that I've tasted the difference between diet and regular cola. I guess myself as a 7year old couldn't taste the difference, followed by a "no-cola" policy until a few years ago.

Really, I think if it's that carcinogenic, they'd remove it off the market. They do it with drugs, they'll do it with food.

[XanBcoo]

I drink plenty of regular V8, haven't checked nutritional information on it though.
V8 Splash and V8 fusion are for people who still want to drink a lot of sugar, but still want to maintain the illusion that they're eating "healthy". I would assume regular V8 doesn't have much sugar. Something like 0 to 5% maybe??

But yeah, everyone should cut out sodas from their diet eventually.

[complich8]

regular v8 is lower on sugar and fairly low-cal, but it's sodium city. You're much better off getting your vegetables in vegetable form...

I gave up soda when I moved out of the dorms and started having to pay for my drinks. That shit's expensive... seriously.

[Psyke]

But..... sodas are great with a spicy meal..... or hot ramen :p

[Nadouku]

I don't get how lava lamps work. People say that its heated to a certain temperature that causes the blobs of wax inside to radically change shape and flow through the solution, which I assume is water. Can anyone explain this to me?

[Buffalobiian]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_lamps#How_it_works

[Nadouku]

The cycle of rising and falling wax continues as long as the temperature differential remains sufficient. Operating temperatures vary but are normally around 60 °C (140 °F). If too low or too high a wattage bulb is used, the lava ceases to circulate, remaining at the bottom (too cold) or rising to the top (too hot).

Hmm, so this is why my Lava Lamp has been declining to the bottom lately. Thanks for the find, much appreciated.

[Buffalobiian]

Why do people browse the forum hidden?

[Paper]

Why do people browse the forum hidden?

That's a good question, I always believe that members hide because they don't want to be notice or to busy to respond so instead of being notice and wondering why the member who is sign in not posting they just hide themself in the mist of lurking

When customers go into the pharmacy they have a tendency to be sick ,"well just majority of them" so why do stores have the pharmacy setup all way in the back of the store? :confused:

it's very inconveient just thinking about perspective of old people having to go way in the back for there meds day in and day out while they sell cigarettes infront of the store making it very convenient for others

[Assertn]

because a lot of the things you get at a pharmacy may be things you don't want the world to know you're getting...so they try to set it up such that it can be more discrete.

[Paper]

because a lot of the things you get at a pharmacy may be things you don't want the world to know you're getting...so they try to set it up such that it can be more discrete.


now thinking about it your right, especially situations where someone has "something" that don't want the whole world to know

[Buffalobiian]

To my knowledge:

1) Pharmacies don't sell cigarettes (In Australia anyway)

2) Setting the dispensary at the back makes people walk through the shop, potentially eying other products.

3) You'll often have to wait for 5-10 minutes to get your prescription.Having people crowd in the back is better than having them crowd the front shop, driving off potential customers.

4) As you said, most people who go to pharmacies are there to get medication. The vast majority of their turnover stock are medicines. Locating the dispensary at the back also eases stock holding and restocking.

5) What Assertn said

[Nadouku]

Do you accept the excuse "because I'm lazy"? Many people seem to seek out questions that are accompanied by simpleton answers like "'cause I don't want to" or "too much of a hassle". What do you guys think of that? I personally don't get it.

[Buffalobiian]

Do you accept the excuse "because I'm lazy"? Many people seem to seek out questions that are accompanied by simpleton answers like "'cause I don't want to" or "too much of a hassle". What do you guys think of that? I personally don't get it.

I don't get it. :p

No really, are you saying you don't get why people give such simple and nonexplanatory answers, or why people ask questions knowing that's how they'll get replied, but ask it anyway?

[Nadouku]

The former because it's just weird how a querky answer gets used a lot in simple situations.

For example, as you prepare for work, you ask someone to finish the chores that you started. They say, "Yea, I'll do later." For the whole day, after coming back home, you are baffled to see that the chores aren't even done at all. You ask why he or she didn't do it, and he or she replies with, "Because I'm watching TV!" Not the best example, but nevertheless, an example.

[Buffalobiian]

The former because it's just weird how a querky answer gets used a lot in simple situations.

For example, as you prepare for work, you ask someone to finish the chores that you started. They say, "Yea, I'll do later." For the whole day, after coming back home, you are baffled to see that the chores aren't even done at all. You ask why he or she didn't do it, and he or she replies with, "Because I'm watching TV!" Not the best example, but nevertheless, an example.

It's mostly an answer to something you have none, or where you'd rather not tell the truth. I use it sometimes, though it's often true when I say "Because I'm lazy."

Most of the time it's "because I don't feel like it", but then some people ask why.

[Nadouku]

Basically, an excuse to cover up for why you didn't do it. Thanks for the input!

[Kraco]

I disagree. That's honesty. It's no real excuse to say "Because I'm lazy" as it will do nothing but make you look bad and unreliable. A real excuse is something like "I had to finish this other thing first" even if you actually had no other thing to do or it took all three minutes to finish it, and you lazed the rest of the time. Nevertheless, the aim is to make it appear as if you were too busy to handle what you were told to do, and so it wasn't your fault it didn't happen. But being lazy is always your fault.

Besides, it has always kind of bothered me when somebody asks you to do something that isn't urgent at all and it doesn't matter when it happens, yet still expects you to drop your own stuff to do it immediately, instead. And then when they come back and it's not yet done, as you planned to do it later when it's more convenient for you, they don't understand and consider you lazy.

[XanBcoo]

The former because it's just weird how a querky answer gets used a lot in simple situations.
That kind of answer bothers me most when it's in response to something like sending an email.

[Nadouku]

Besides, it has always kind of bothered me when somebody asks you to do something that isn't urgent at all and it doesn't matter when it happens, yet still expects you to drop your own stuff to do it immediately, instead. And then when they come back and it's not yet done, as you planned to do it later when it's more convenient for you, they don't understand and consider you lazy.

Eh, I rather wash dishes before they smell or take out the trash before the house becomes infested with rodents and other bugs, but I do see your point. However, it's not really plausible for something that can be done in, say, 1 minute (taking out the trash). For something else, it depends on the situation.

[Buffalobiian]

Normally on a Saturday, if someone says they'll see you next Saturday, it doesn't matter if they mean the next Saturday, aka coming Saturday, or if they meant it as a short form for next week Saturday (alternatively, Saturday next week).

In the above scenario, both cases point to the same day.

In different scenarios, it causes annoying confusion and repetition.

So how do you guys use the term. Is there a set way? Does its use vary traditionally from country to country (like the "starting" day of the week does?).




Edit: This thread can be a bitch to find. The word filter excludes the words WHAT, I and GET, leaving you with don't, which yields no results.

[Nadouku]

Hmm, the way I say it is just "See you next Saturday!" Most of the people around my area will understand it as being the next Saturday after today. For Saturdays on the same week, I would say "See you on Saturday!" It would indicate that it would be this upcoming Saturday, and not the next Saturday after the first.

Alternatively, if someone wanted to specify a Saturday, I would normally say the date, like "I'll see you on the 29th!" It could be culturally diverse among different societies, though.

[Kraco]

That's pretty much the way it's around here. If the week has already started, you can just say on saturday and everybody knows it's the saturday of the coming weekend. If you happen to be living saturday already, then it would sound strange to say on saturday, and thus you'd say next saturday. If it's friday already, then most would say tomorrow. If you said next saturday it might leave someone wondering whether you meant the next day or a week later.

[Nadouku]

A friend of mine said this to me:

"Hey, I want you to solve this and get exactly 24 using these numbers: 25, 6, 6, and 8. You can only use +, -, *, and / once, as well as the numbers. Happy hunting!"

I'm stumped now. :(

[Buffalobiian]

any brackets? There's also 4 signs, with 4 numbers. Are we allowed to use any of those signs, but any one sign once only, making 3 signs total used? Or do we use them all, and use any of the numbers of our choice?

[Nadouku]

For those that missed it and don't want to go back:


"Hey, I want you to solve this and get exactly 24 using these numbers: 25, 6, 6, and 8. You can only use +, -, *, and / once, as well as the numbers. Happy hunting!"

I asked for more clarification and he replied with this:

"You can only use each sign and number once, and you can only use about three signs, since there are four numbers. You can use the numbers in any order with the signs, so like 25 + 6 - 8 / 6 or 6 + 6 * 25 / 8. You may not use brackets or anything else from the mathematical world; you can only use what you are provided to get the number 24."

[Buffalobiian]

So do I have to use every single number?

I mean, I can do 25 - 6/6 = 24

And can I combine numbers?

like 256, 68 etc?

I'm suspecting you can, since if he's intentionally saying "you can only use about three signs, since there are four numbers", he's telling you the maximum, as there are 4 numbers, but didn't clearly say to use 3 signs.

Edit: What about powers? If you use pen and paper, 8^6 is written without a "sign".

[Xelbair]

No mathematical stuff other than those 4 sings and those numbers, no combination of those numbers etc - that is how i get - back to solving it. if its solvable i will solve it... but no idea when :]

p.s. if i can't "crack" it logically i will use pen and paper brutal force method.

[Buffalobiian]

I give up. I brute forced it last night :(

You've got one odd number, and three even numbers. Your final value 24 is an even number. The only way you can get an even from an odd is odd * even = even.

But using that doesn't get you anywhere neither.

[Xelbair]

lack of brackets annoys me deeply, but if its solvable i will do it(now i need to find another pen/pencil.. old one is dead)

[Nadouku]

Yea, we'll have to come back into this matter much later, since my friend is being cynical at giving me the solution to the problem. I'll inform you guys when he's being serious. The only thing that was close to 24 was 24.75 from doing 25 * 6 / 8 + 6.

[Buffalobiian]

I can only get 24 if I break the rules:

25 - 8^(6/6)

[Buffalobiian]

Was it the mermaid or her human form you wanted to ravage?

If you wanted to do it with a fish i can understand it but if you wanted to do it with a cartoon character then you're just sick dude.

PS: Taking gotwoot seriously gives you brain tumors

...........

How is a fish okay, but cartoon not? I don't get it.

(...I'm getting the shivers just imagining a blowjob with a fish......)

[XanBcoo]

It's a joke, Buff. He said something intentionally ludicrous, a statement which contradicts that which you would expect him to say, in order to illicit laughter from you, the reader.

[Assertn]

Yea, we'll have to come back into this matter much later, since my friend is being cynical at giving me the solution to the problem. I'll inform you guys when he's being serious. The only thing that was close to 24 was 24.75 from doing 25 * 6 / 8 + 6.
Cynical? What, were you taking advantage of him for his riddles or something?

[Nadouku]

He was being cynical because he gave out the wrong information to me. One of the more notable erroronous information was that the number 25 is actually 0.25, and that you can use each mathematical sign more than once. So, here are the new rules:

- You can use brackets.
- You can only use the numbers 0.25, 6, 6, and 8 once.
- You can only use the signs +, -, *, and /, but you can use them more than once.

[Abdula]

Well that makes getting 24 easy
6+6=12
12*8=96
96*.25=24

[Nadouku]

Here's mine:

(6+6)*(8*0.25)
12*2 = 24

Almost the same as Abdula's, but took a slightly different route. There seems to be a lot of ways to get 24 now with this different set of rules.

[Buffalobiian]

Lol, I think he was just screwing with you. This is hardly a riddle now. :p

[Xelbair]

with brackets is piece of cake (wo)man...

Your gender is still a mystery to us

[Buffalobiian]

Louse is to lice as mouse is to mice. So, why is the plural of house....houses?

[Stitch]

I don't get why the fuck you're wasting your time worrying about the singular and plural forms of words based in the inherent quirkiness of the english language.

That's what I don't get. Why don't you go use your mind to find the cure for HIV so I can fuck your dirty ass without a condom?

What a Godawful post. Don't do this again. Warned
- XanBcoo

[Buffalobiian]

That's what I don't get. Why don't you go use your mind to find the cure for HIV so I can fuck your dirty ass without a condom?

That's why.

[XanBcoo]

Louse is to lice as mouse is to mice. So, why is the plural of house....houses?
Ugh, I should be able to answer this off the top of my head, but I can't.

I'm pretty sure it has to do with The Great Vowel Shift (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_vowel_shift) in the English language and just the changes made from Old to Middle to Modern English in general, but I'm too tired to remember the specifics.

I think the older forms of those words would have been different, but changed over time. Some, like house and spouse, didn't change, and some, like mouse and louse, did. I'll give you a more thorough answer when I can.

[itadakimasu]

I was watching Dateline last night and they were going over the whole mortgage meltdown and talking about how all of these people were just pushing through fraudulent loan applications so they could earn commissions, and those were then bought up by wallstreet investors as being valid loans and then the billion / trillion dollar loans become worthless when welfare mom's can't pay their million dollar mortgage...

One thing I don't get, is why they haven't had any publicity about actively trying to put people in jail for this fraud. I think they can trace back alot of those falsified applications and give people jobs at the same time.

Secondly... Especially in california I don't see how somebody can commit to a mortgage when they know they don't make enough money. They had one lady on the show who was making $1,600 / month and while they did falsify her income on the loan apps... she should have realized right away that she couldn't be paying $2000+ per month for a mortgage.

They also had this other lady who they showed as having a negative income and a history of filing for bankruptcy but somehow had over a million dollars worth of mortgages, and she refused to take any responsibility... she was a victim somehow.

I think they need to investigate all the people who were falsifying these documents and give them stiff penalties. I think they also need to re-visit people who have already been evicted because of things like adjustable rate mortgages balooning and give them a home @ a standard fixed rate.

[Stitch]

Adjustable rate mortgages would get you beheaded at the local supermarket in front of your own children in Iran or any other middle eastern country.

The Old Testament/Quran are some kooky ass pieces of literature, but some of it is definitely on the money (har har, get my pun?) about what is "sinful."

Anyway, I caught 60 Minutes last night for the Steve Kroft interview with President Barack Obama. That motherfucker Kroft actually had the gumption to catch an attitude and get smart with Obama about smiling and laughing at a time of financial crisis. It was the most asinine question ever when our glorious President was asked if he was punch drunk.

I want to know where this asshole suddenly gets the gumption when he certainly didn't have the balls to catch an attitude and get smart with George W. Bush. That's probably because George W. Bush was a stupid motherfucker who'd never grant an interview in fear of pulling a Sarah Palin vs. Katie Couric.

So if Obama is granting you an interview, appreciate the opportunity and ask your questions nicely. And while he's graceful enough to answer your questions, shut your mouth and know your role, jabronie.

[Assertn]

The rationale of sub-prime loans was that the equity your house builds would compensate for your sub-par income. This was quite appealing when houses in the area increased in value, say, $50k - 100k per year. Just like the old adage, people are greedy when they should be fearful, and fearful when they should be greedy.

[KitKat]

Ugh, I should be able to answer this off the top of my head, but I can't.

I'm pretty sure it has to do with The Great Vowel Shift (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_vowel_shift) in the English language and just the changes made from Old to Middle to Modern English in general, but I'm too tired to remember the specifics.

I think the older forms of those words would have been different, but changed over time. Some, like house and spouse, didn't change, and some, like mouse and louse, did. I'll give you a more thorough answer when I can.
Well, I'm a bit late to this question but....other forum resident linguist to the rescue!

Xan, as far as I know, the great vowel shift was a phonetic/phonoligical change, whereas the matter of plurals is a grammatical change. From what I've learned in historical linguistics, English used to have a number of different ways of marking plurals (woman-women, child-children, mouse-mice, sheep-sheep, word-words). Each of these different strategies was used for a certain subset of words, but the -s class was the largest, so over time when people forget what kind of plural a word takes, they make a guess that it takes the -s version. Multiply this by hundreds of years, and you see the -s plural taking over most of the words, and only a few words holding on to their old archaic plurals. Incidentally, the ones that don't change tend to be ones that are used very frequently (like woman and child) whereas the first ones to change are typically words that aren't used so much.

[XanBcoo]

Well, I know that "mice" and "lice" and so on exist because of a phonological change. I may be slightly wrong, but I think the forms were something like (singular first, then plural):

[mu:s] - [mu:si]

and then after time, the [i] from the plural caused the [u] to move farther forward:

[mu:s] - [mysi]

and then at some point the GVS or some other change happened and then the [i] was lost in the plural, resulting in the forms we know today. I think it was something like that at least??

[mu:s] - [mi:s]

[maus] - [mais]

I'm still curious as to why it would affect some words and not others, especially since "house" is such a common word.

[itadakimasu]

another wtf rant brought on by watching dateline.

Dateline did online scams this sunday and highlighted a scam targetting job hunters online in which nigerians are enlisting gullible americans to do their dirty work and send out fake checks to other gullible americans who are then asked to cash the fake check and send the balance minus their "pay'' and then it eventually gets sent back to nigeria.

i actually had this happen from craigslist last year. I was selling a computer, they sent me a probably fake check for $3500 and wanted me to deduct $300 and give them $3200 back. I wasn't about to cash the check...

So, what I don't get, is that all of these scams are now well known. They mostly utilize western union because western union is one of the only ways you can quickly move cash from the US to Africa, or other places like the UK. They know its a problem too... why isn't anything being done to western union to force them to impose some sort of red flag system when they know that it's very unlikely anybody is honestly sending thousands of dollars to nigeria when they have no ties to anyboy in nigeria.

I think western union is liable to some extent for enabling and aiding in this type of fraud that is happening all over the internet.

/wall of text

[KitKat]

I'm still curious as to why it would affect some words and not others, especially since "house" is such a common word.
I think it depends on the order that the processes occurred historically. If the plural [i] was lost before causing the vowels to move forward, that would explain it. I couldn't be sure though without looking at some historical data to be sure that 'house' actually did take the same kind of plural as 'mouse' in the past.

[XanBcoo]

I think it depends on the order that the processes occurred historically. If the plural [i] was lost before causing the vowels to move forward, that would explain it. I couldn't be sure though without looking at some historical data to be sure that 'house' actually did take the same kind of plural as 'mouse' in the past.
If the old plural of house didn't take the same kind of plural as mouse in the past, then that's a little less interesting. Still raises the question of why that plural was different in the first place, but I guess that's probably just an issue of it belonging to a certain class of nouns or something?

[itadakimasu]

I'm taking this sociology class online, and we do a discussion board assignment where you answer questions in forum fashion, then respond, etc. Definitely not the most effective way to learn things in a class.

anyhow, there was no such assignment for this chapter on religion and it just doesn't make sense that you would avoid the topic when you have a class of adults. if such a topic would make people question their beliefs, i think that's the whole idea of the class anyhow.

[Nadouku]

What does amoxicillin do? I started taking it recently, but I feel no different.