Something Random

ddrueding

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The boss invited me up for dinner tonight (his son and I the only guests). Jalapeno poppers and artichokes as appetizers, then salad, baked potatoes, and steaks. Beverages were cocktails before, his wine during, then cognac and scotch after.

Life is good.
 

LunarMist

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At least you are allowed to go to Tampa and get it, or even call someone in Tampa. I had to trust the Chinese service agents working for Dragon Air...
No, tampon was the departed city. It was claimed that the hag was untagged and that it ED on another, completely unrelated flight.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
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The gesture of My Little Pony solidarity is called a brohoof. A brohoof is basically just a fist bump, but of course ponies don't have fists, they have hooves.

The brohoof has an emoticon. It looks like this: /)(\

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans have generally adopted the term "Brony" to describe themselves. At one time the correct usage stemmed from the readership of 4chan's /b/ board, which is a general purpose meme factory for the internet. Current acceptable use says that a brony is anyone who is a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

There is a dissenting viewpoint that gender differences should be recognized and celebrated in the wider community of pony fandom, and thus some women choose to describe themselves as Pegasisters rather than Bronies. There is a whole level of discourse online about exactly which term is most appropriate for the broader fan base.

Among my Pony-liking friends (all women), I count one Brony and two Pegasisters. Only one of them has children who are age-appropriate My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic viewers. When approaching a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fan, it is important to be aware of this distinction, lest one get a lecture in equine gender studies or at least some disapproving eye-rolls.
 

MaxBurn

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Random thought; on forums the large link with the thread title takes you to the first post but you have to click on the small numbers to get to the last page. Doesn't that behavior sound backwards? Why does the biggest click target take you to the page that the least amount of people want to go to?
 

MaxBurn

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Actually no I was just hitting the highest number. But the arrow is even smaller target than the highest number. Maybe this is just a unique problem for here where we use the same thread forever.
 

Handruin

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Most of the time I just click on this image to take me to the first unread post:
firstnew.png
 

BingBangBop

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The gesture of My Little Pony solidarity is called a brohoof. A brohoof is basically just a fist bump, but of course ponies don't have fists, they have hooves.

The brohoof has an emoticon. It looks like this: /)(\

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fans have generally adopted the term "Brony" to describe themselves. At one time the correct usage stemmed from the readership of 4chan's /b/ board, which is a general purpose meme factory for the internet. Current acceptable use says that a brony is anyone who is a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

There is a dissenting viewpoint that gender differences should be recognized and celebrated in the wider community of pony fandom, and thus some women choose to describe themselves as Pegasisters rather than Bronies. There is a whole level of discourse online about exactly which term is most appropriate for the broader fan base.

Among my Pony-liking friends (all women), I count one Brony and two Pegasisters. Only one of them has children who are age-appropriate My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic viewers. When approaching a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fan, it is important to be aware of this distinction, lest one get a lecture in equine gender studies or at least some disapproving eye-rolls.

Am I just stupid, or have you, and them, graduated to genius because you are now officially beyond my comprehension. My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic seems to be many levels beyond the generic of liking unicorns and beyond even that to perhaps the land of psychosis. Not trying to be offensive, but really from adults this sounds nuts to me. Ahh, but I'm probably just stupid and ignorant.
 

ddrueding

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Unless you have those the wrong way around, those numbers should make any doctor happy with you.

I'm not familiar with those measurements. Is that cholesterol levels? If it is, what are the healthy range for both?

Those are cholesterol levels, and there are three things that matter.

1. HDL is bad cholesterol, anything under 200 is good, mine is 133 (very good).
2. LDL is good cholesterol, anything over 40 is good, mine is 23 (very bad).
3. The ratio of good to bad should be under 4.5. Because my "good" is so bad, the ratio is bad too.
 

time

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1. LDL is bad cholesterol, anything under 200 is good, mine is 133 (very good).
2. HDL is good cholesterol, anything over 40 is good, mine is 23 (very bad).

Fixed it for you.

Ddrueding said:
3. The ratio of good to bad should be under 4.5

I've never heard this one, and I spent a fair amount of time researching this topic last year. Can you point to any studies that show a correlation?

Unfortunately, one of the largest studies ever done shows a much stronger mortality correlation with low HDL than with high LDL (women have higher HDL and a much lower rate of cardiovascular disease). The medical profession doesn't have any answers for low HDL. With such a low total cholesterol number, you should avoid cholesterol-lowering medication like the plague.

Off the top of my head, try eggs, chocolate, red wine and green tea (or any tea, really). I now have at least 5 boiled eggs a week, although there was a study where participants had 3 per day to boost HDL. As a non-tea drinker, I found flavored green tea to be the most tolerable option (the quality varies hugely according to price), although I've progressed to some spiced black teas such as gypsy tea and chai (without milk).

I mean real chocolate BTW, not sugary milky confection with a little chocolate added. That will give you other health problems. :)
 

ddrueding

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I don't like chocolate. I was told fish, but I don't like that either. I do have lots of iced tea (unsweetened) every day, as my only source of caffeine.

The ratio thing was told to me by the guy doing the health exam. I haven't done any independent research, as I'm honestly not that interested.
 

time

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Fair enough, I had a much stronger motivation.

I didn't realize that there were people who didn't like chocolate. :eek: Try some that's 70-85% cocoa and just have a couple of squares for medicinal reasons - it's likely a lot more palatable than fish, which won't work BTW.

I regard the tests as merely indicators and do not necessarily believe that fiddling with the numbers will make a difference to health outcomes. However, it does give you some feedback that perhaps there might be something about your diet (or lifestyle of course) that is a little off - at least as far as your particular body is concerned.
 

Chewy509

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I just spent the last half hour looking at the Moon and Mars through a telescope. Didn't realise how red Mars actually appears through a telescope. (We got our son a telescope for Christmas, and we get it out every couple of weeks when it's a clear enough sky).
 

Mercutio

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Am I just stupid, or have you, and them, graduated to genius because you are now officially beyond my comprehension. My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic seems to be many levels beyond the generic of liking unicorns and beyond even that to perhaps the land of psychosis. Not trying to be offensive, but really from adults this sounds nuts to me. Ahh, but I'm probably just stupid and ignorant.

I think it's a case where still waters run deep. There's a level of un-ironic enjoyment of something that really is innocent and lacking in pretense, combined with the specific irony of adult fandom; or the post-ironic and almost academic discussions about the moral philosophy of Ponies and Equestria. It may really be something that seems so smart it's stupid.

It is a real thing. One of my friends is going to a Brony convention in September.
 

CougTek

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I just heard that not only is the moon full tonight, but that it is at the closest point in orbit.

I went out to look at it at the precise time it was at its closest point to Earth. It was still round, still whitish with darker spots and still too far to throw a rock to. I didn't notice the 10% size increased compared to normal, but the 30% increased brightness was obvious. Maybe it would have been a better show without the thin cloud layer we had here around that time.
 

LunarMist

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Am I just stupid, or have you, and them, graduated to genius because you are now officially beyond my comprehension. My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic seems to be many levels beyond the generic of liking unicorns and beyond even that to perhaps the land of psychosis. Not trying to be offensive, but really from adults this sounds nuts to me. Ahh, but I'm probably just stupid and ignorant.

Are you surprised? It is consistent with the whole arrested development personality. I can't relate to that mentality either. Then again, it may be some kind of horse fetish.
 

BingBangBop

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If people here are trying to defend it as a normal variation of the human condition, then like the Tea Party it must be that I'm stupid and ignorant.
 

LunarMist

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If people here are trying to defend it as a normal variation of the human condition, then like the Tea Party it must be that I'm stupid and ignorant.

Cancer is a normal part of the human condition, not that it is healthy for the individual.
 

MaxBurn

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I'm up to 7gb free space with dropbox using the beta photo sync service, which has worked perfectly so far.
 

LunarMist

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Hmmm. The author does not seem terribly qualified. No MD or PhD, just a runner. :(
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
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Plenty of MDs and PhDs put their names on woo-woo fad diets. The interesting thing here is that it was published by ORA, which normally publishes highly regarded books on IT and software engineering topics.
 

time

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Hmmm. The author does not seem terribly qualified. No MD or PhD, just a runner. :(

I'm dismayed that someone with your life experience judges people's contributions by the tier of their academic degree. A PhD is awarded for specialization in an extremely narrow subject, often with little or no relevance to a person's subsequent research or job experience. They may well be less qualified than someone who has been actively researching the topic.
 

Handruin

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Some of my more memorable and informative courses in college were taught by professors who did not have a PhD/doctorate.
 

Stereodude

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IMHO, the degree doesn't matter. It's whether the prof has any real world experience with what they're teaching (or not).
 

Chewy509

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Some of my more memorable and informative courses in college were taught by professors who did not have a PhD/doctorate.

Based on my personal and current experience, the better lecturers I've had didn't have a PhD, whilst the worst one I've had actually had 2 PhDs to his name.... (there are exceptions to the rule, as one of the better ones does have a PhD, but that is the exception).
 
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