ddrueding
Fixture
I wasn't encouraging Eugenics, I was discouraging the government from subsidizing children. Any children.
Something Random
- Thread starter ddrueding
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Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
There might be a legitimate state interest in encouraging childbirth and couple-hood, that being that there's probably a commensurate reduction in crime and public health issues for intact families.
From the standpoint of resource allocation/energy footprint, I kind of wonder how worthwhile it really is to promote childbearing-related activities?
Actually, I've kind of been thinking if we should perhaps start thinking of our currency as a kind of energy credit (either a carbon offset or in terms of calories per unit). I was contemplating the fact that, for example, there's a big truck that brought me a $.15 apple from California to my local supermarket, and that struck me as an incredibly inefficient thing to do. Same thing with transporting bottled water.
I think there's a whole generation of people who grew up on video games who might have a much clearer understanding of the world if it were presented in terms of say, energy credits and water credits, rather than dollars, and wonder if knowing what the true cost in those resources is might get more people to change their behavior.
From the standpoint of resource allocation/energy footprint, I kind of wonder how worthwhile it really is to promote childbearing-related activities?
Actually, I've kind of been thinking if we should perhaps start thinking of our currency as a kind of energy credit (either a carbon offset or in terms of calories per unit). I was contemplating the fact that, for example, there's a big truck that brought me a $.15 apple from California to my local supermarket, and that struck me as an incredibly inefficient thing to do. Same thing with transporting bottled water.
I think there's a whole generation of people who grew up on video games who might have a much clearer understanding of the world if it were presented in terms of say, energy credits and water credits, rather than dollars, and wonder if knowing what the true cost in those resources is might get more people to change their behavior.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
IBM 1401: a User's Manual.
In this case, the video is an interpretive dance. The Mainframe is used AS the principle musical instrument. How cool.
In this case, the video is an interpretive dance. The Mainframe is used AS the principle musical instrument. How cool.
ddrueding
Fixture
My question is: why isn't the energy/water in the cost already? Clearly someone is (should be?) paying for the energy/water, so that should be factored into the cost already. If it isn't, that means that someone isn't paying what they ought to for the resources they are using.
If water and energy cost what it should, supply and demand would encourage the right thing (eating local foods, etc).
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Bottled water is the one that's maddening. A lot of bottled water is literally some city's municipal tapwater. Not filtered. Not extra-pure or more free of contaminants. It's tap water that's put in bottles made from hydrocarbons and shipped all over world. The cost of the water itself is essentially underwritten by the residents of the city of origin. There's no way bottled water distribution is efficient.
San Francisco says it costs about $.20 to dispose of a $.02 plastic shopping bag. I know I see those bags EVERYWHERE; caught in trees, in the middle of corn fields. We think nothing of them, but I'm sure the economic cost is greater than what it cost the end user sees.
Um, anyway, I still think that Youtube clip I posted earlier today is really cool and awesome. I could care less about the dance, but the music is very compelling in its way.
I ate in a Provençal French restaurant tonight and then went to see Ratatouille. Both things were highly worthwhile.
San Francisco says it costs about $.20 to dispose of a $.02 plastic shopping bag. I know I see those bags EVERYWHERE; caught in trees, in the middle of corn fields. We think nothing of them, but I'm sure the economic cost is greater than what it cost the end user sees.
Um, anyway, I still think that Youtube clip I posted earlier today is really cool and awesome. I could care less about the dance, but the music is very compelling in its way.
I ate in a Provençal French restaurant tonight and then went to see Ratatouille. Both things were highly worthwhile.
udaman
Wannabe Storage Freak
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
- Messages
- 1,209
I guess not all of life sucks then Merc? Any way, I'll be in SF Bay Area at the bukkake spit-a-thon Pinot Days wine tasting on Sunday @Fort Mason. So I'll miss your 10k post, not that it has all that much meaning
. Till Monday then.jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Bottled water is about the dumbest thing the marketing weanies ever came up with. I see idiots paying $1 a bottle or more for water, and then dumping the bottles wherever they feel like it (including my front lawn). :arge: If anything should be outlawed, it should be bottled water. Those stupid one-serving drinks or things like lunchables are a close second.
Other random things in my life this weekend:
1) Saturday our sewer backed up. The regular electric snake thing failed to clear it. A truck with a 2000 psi water jet did the trick but the sewercam showed a separation between the cast iron house pipe and clay pipe to the city, along with soil intrusion which would reclog the pipe in short order. We did the epoxy liner thing. 25 year guarantee but it cost over $7000. Hopefully home insurance will cover most of it. On the bright side, had the pipe completely collapsed, we would have had to dig a trench from the house to the city sewer to replace the pipe. A week of inconvenience, plus the end result would be ruined landscaping.
2) What a difference a day makes. After spending about 18 hours with an inoperable drain system while the liner was curing (we couldn't flush the toilet and had to wash our hands in buckets) we suddenly developed a new appreciation for the simpler things in life, like showering, brushing your teeth, and getting rid of solid waste.
3) My brother and sister were over to fix the rear driver's side brake on her car. It went smoother than expected. We blow-torched off two stuck bolts, and avoided buying a replacement caliper.
4) Today was considerably less humid and cooler than it's been in a while. I went for a ride after my litter mates left, and just kept on going, nearly 22 miles total. About halfway into the ride I even managed about 4 miles nonstop in around 11 minutes (no lights, kids, SUVs or other crap to slow down for). I haven't done that in a long time, a really long time. I wasn't even breaking a sweat when I got home.
ddrueding
Fixture
Sounds like things are going well for you JTR. If my math is right that is over 20mph for 4 miles straight? Not bad at all.
...and I paid $1.50 for a bottle of water at lunch. My reasoning? It was healthier than the alternative (can of coke). If tap water was available, it would have been the better option.
...and I paid $1.50 for a bottle of water at lunch. My reasoning? It was healthier than the alternative (can of coke). If tap water was available, it would have been the better option.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Yep, that's roughly 22 mph for the 4 mile portion of the ride. My speed varied between 15 and 30 mph for this stretch, depending upon terrain, although the bulk of it was at 22 to 24 mph (my comfort zone when everything's working right). The rest of the ride I wasn't so lucky, so the overall average speed was 15.0 mph according to my bike computer. Still about 1 to 2 mph better than a typical ride for me. I've had rides where I've encountered literally nothing and averaged 20+ mph for an hour straight, but in a city environment these are as rare as hen's teeth. So are the ones where I crack 50 mph. You basically need a good hill and a tailwind, plus the nerve, to do that.
So long as you disposed of the bottle your water came in properly you won't incur my wrath. I've been avoiding the soda myself although I'll drink filtered tap water. Cheaper than bottled water and likely just as healthy. I'll admit to drinking flavored seltzer, which is essentially paying for carbonated water with a little flavor, but only when it's on sale ($0.50 or less for 2 liters).
So long as you disposed of the bottle your water came in properly you won't incur my wrath.
I've been avoiding the soda myself although I'll drink filtered tap water. Cheaper than bottled water and likely just as healthy. I'll admit to drinking flavored seltzer, which is essentially paying for carbonated water with a little flavor, but only when it's on sale ($0.50 or less for 2 liters).
Try that for several days after an earthquake or even longer after a flood and find a hotel if you are lucky.
BTW, the "plumbing" city name in your profile is apt today.
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jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Tell me about it. :bglaugh: Wikipedia referenceBTW, the "plumbing" city name in your profile is apt today.
Not mentioned in the wikipedia article, perhaps urban legend: I heard that the name came about because the area was largely salt marshes where flushing human waste might be problematic. Because of that, maps had "NO FLUSHING". The NO part was later dropped when an official name was chosen once the area was rendered habitable by landfill.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
RE: no flushing/water
Around here it is not unusual to be without electric. That means no lights or water; we have a well. We have gone for 4 days without lights and water already. Gives you a whole new appreciation for some of the basic things.
Bozo :joker:
Around here it is not unusual to be without electric. That means no lights or water; we have a well. We have gone for 4 days without lights and water already. Gives you a whole new appreciation for some of the basic things.
Bozo :joker:
Stereodude
Not really a
And you don't have a "genny" in the Outer Limits?
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
Generator, No. one large enough to power the water pump and some lights + freeezer and fridge would be expensive.
We have oil lamps, bottled water and our stove is propane.
Bozo :joker:
We have oil lamps, bottled water and our stove is propane.
Bozo :joker:
ddrueding
Fixture
For some reason, when I'm really tired, a specific keyboard combination becomes really easy:
Ctrl-A
Shift-Delete
Enter
:arge:
Ctrl-A
Shift-Delete
Enter
:arge:
Stereodude
Not really a
We'd better keep you away from Merc's pr0n collection when you're tired then.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
Yep, or Merc would give his face the Thinkpad T23 treatment (walk on it).
ddrueding
Fixture
In this case it only means re-ripping about a hundred audio CDs. I've done worse.
udaman
Wannabe Storage Freak
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
- Messages
- 1,209
Lol, jtr; my friend after a year of procrastinating, and dicking around not sure what he'd do, gave up on trying to get the city of Santa Monica (they rejected his initial request/demand they pay for it) to pay, once he got bids, to replace the pipes on his hillside home, where the median/parkway strip owned by the city in front of his home has Ficus trees that had roots growing all the a way up into his back yard and video by the plumbers showing the roots invasion of his main plumbing pipe. IIRc, he's contacted another company that will use a router snake to 'drill' out the roots from the broken pipe, and then do some process whereby a layer of compound is applied into the original pipe forming an 'inner' pipe. Costs around the same $7k as your job. Funny thing is that the black former mayor of SM lives 3 houses over down the street and he got his pipes redone for $10k, and the city later reimbursed him for the costs.
Flushing, lol. you mean the current vernacular doesn't refer to what you want to do to the hottie Asian woman living there now... *sigh*, well you can always move to the Mecca of Asian women on the west coast (though I kind of like the 'old school' Asian neighborhoods of the SF Bay Area, and the much cooler weather up there) as it's just as hot in LA currently, though with much lower humidity...I'm still sweating bullets though, must be some metabolism problem I have as neither of my parents sweat in this kind of weather...hell, just walking 10blks in 60 degree weather of SF had me sweating, not to mention the 150+ wines I tasted on Sunday, must have walked a few miles indoor doing that, and my quads and big toe on my right foot with arthritis were aching significantly at the end of that 6hr wine tasting marathon. 150 wines, and all I did was quickly taste and spit at a rate of every 30sec., only one wine I actually swallowed was an under the table Zinfandel from a well known producer I know, it was fabulous and there was no way I was going to not savory every liquid drop.
It was a very long weekend, that I've yet to fully recover from, either exhaustion wise, or monetarily as the end of the weekend included dinner at Manresa in Los Gatos, south of where DD lives...all of $135 incl. tax for the chef's tasting menu (stuffed myself on as much of the $45 of takeout dim sum I could that I hurriedly bought on Geary St, right before the wine tasting started at 11AM)...then 75mpg drive until 2:30AM Monday morning, to get back to LA. Damned Honda Civic, in spite of new aero body, still got less than anticipated 35mpg for the 902mi roundtrip weekend. Aver. cost of $3.25/gallon in fuel costs.
OT random, but jtr, don't you get numbnuts on that saddle you ride on of your Raleigh? I can't do more than 30min of cycling before getting numb, and I have a thin gel lined seat....looking for something better with larger cutout, wider fit. Actually my penis get's all tingly (NO jokes please) from blood supply restriction, kind of like when you sleep in the wrong position on your arm and it gets numb from the lack of blood supply), NOT a very comfortable feeling. Sheesh, I hope there are no perminent effects from this kind of torture, I'm going to have to find a better seat for me, or give up on cycling.
ddrueding
Fixture
Merc is showing incredible restraint. It's a good thing I didn't hold my breath (or start a congratulatory thread early)
e_dawg
Storage Freak
What's he waiting for anyways? Trying to make it coincide with Friday the 13th or something?
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Unfortunately, the insurance won't pay for the repair itself, just damage to the house and contents. Now we have to go through boxes of my father's baseball cards and other crap to see if we have enough to file a claim. There's a $1000 deductible besides.
Never thought of it that way.
Oh well, desire doesn't necessarily mean opportunity anyway.Not necessarily a metabolism problem. A lot depends upon activity level. I sweat walking my 13 minute miles even when it's in the 50s. The usual oppressive humidity here doesn't help, either. Yesterday was horrible. It was low 80s but with the humidity it felt like being in a toilet bowl. BTW, what's your normal body temperature? That might account for your sweating. Mine is around 97°F instead of 98.6°F. That probably means I'm better adapted for cold as I've hated hot weather even as a child. The good news is lower body temperature means a longer life, all other things being equal, and barring accidents/disease of course. The bad news is you feel uncomfortably hot even in temperatures others may find chilly.
Numbnuts? The term reminds me of that drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket. This used to happen to me but not to the degree it apparently happens to you. A combination of getting used to the potholed streets plus natural padding from my 30 extra pounds means this isn't an issue any more. What does bother me after a long ride are my hands. They hurt from the shocks and gripping the bars. I have CTS to begin with. Riding doesn't help it any.
You might try a seat with more padding and springs. I have one on my older bike. I did help a lot as far as dealing with the road shocks.The dead arm/dead leg upon waking is a worse problem for me. I seem to get this a lot. Time for a new mattress. Old one is 29 years old. I'm partial to those memory foam things. No chance of dust mites plus more comfortable. Anyone know if there are any brands I should avoid?
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
I checked in and he is still breathing. He should resume posting in the near future.Merc is showing incredible restraint. It's a good thing I didn't hold my breath (or start a congratulatory thread early)
ddrueding
Fixture
Good to hear. I wish him well on whatever he is doing, and look forward to hearing about it upon his return.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
My pillow is from Walmart and its fine. I'm not sure you can get more generic.
ddrueding
Fixture
I order all my Mini-ITX stuff from these guys.
This time I was in a big hurry, I placed the order 30 minutes ago with overnight service. Out of desperation I included a comment that offered additional money for expedited service. I got a call 10 minutes ago from the owner, informing me that they would be assembled and tested by 3PM tomorrow at no extra charge. It turns out they are about 15 minutes from me and have a will-call. I love living in Silicon Valley
This time I was in a big hurry, I placed the order 30 minutes ago with overnight service. Out of desperation I included a comment that offered additional money for expedited service. I got a call 10 minutes ago from the owner, informing me that they would be assembled and tested by 3PM tomorrow at no extra charge. It turns out they are about 15 minutes from me and have a will-call. I love living in Silicon Valley
ddrueding
Fixture
Cisco bought VMWare? Where is the benefit/overlap there?
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
ddrueding
Fixture
Ah, thanks. They didn't mention that on the radio :rant:
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
But Cisco killed the Linksys brand.
And Amazon bought one of those camera review sites - dpreview, I think.
And Amazon bought one of those camera review sites - dpreview, I think.
ddrueding
Fixture
I just had WAY too much fresh strawberries and cream...not doing so well myself.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
As a former Hairy Aussie...
"The important thing to remember about Australia, though, is that it is some tough-as-nails country. It's, like, where all the nasty stuff from evolution went to go and live in a trailer with a shotgun."
-- Ray Smuckles, Cartoon Cat
"The important thing to remember about Australia, though, is that it is some tough-as-nails country. It's, like, where all the nasty stuff from evolution went to go and live in a trailer with a shotgun."
-- Ray Smuckles, Cartoon Cat
Tannin
Storage? I am Storage!
I usually ignore this thread. But I'll make an exception to say welcome back Merc, nice to see you aroujnd the place again, hopefully refreshed after a break.
Tannin
Storage? I am Storage!
In fact, seeing as I'm here, I'll even contribute something random ...
Went to my (probably) only concert for the year this week: all Shostakovich, and it was great. His cello concerto #2 in particular was really something: made me think about the concerto form in ways I never have before.
Went to my (probably) only concert for the year this week: all Shostakovich, and it was great. His cello concerto #2 in particular was really something: made me think about the concerto form in ways I never have before.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo and Sam Brownback placed second, third and fourth in today's Iowa Straw Poll.
Guliani and McCain didn't even register a single percentage point.
On one level, that is positively horrifying, because those men who came out strongest are essentially the absolute most cretinous social conservatives campaigning for the Presidency.
On the other hand, seeing social conservatives continuing to push the republicans toward christofacism is heartening, because it makes the likely republican nominee a less palatable choice to anyone who doesn't think we should live in a theocracy.
Guliani and McCain didn't even register a single percentage point.
On one level, that is positively horrifying, because those men who came out strongest are essentially the absolute most cretinous social conservatives campaigning for the Presidency.
On the other hand, seeing social conservatives continuing to push the republicans toward christofacism is heartening, because it makes the likely republican nominee a less palatable choice to anyone who doesn't think we should live in a theocracy.
ddrueding
Fixture
Until they actually win, and my estimation of the American people falls yet further...
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
This idiot made my day: Surgically alters thumbs to better use iPhone