From somewhere on the web: …They know you rang a phone sex service at 2:24 am and spoke for 18 minutes. But they don’t know what you talked about. They know you called the suicide prevention hotline from the Golden Gate Bridge. But the topic of the call remains a secret. They know you spoke with an HIV testing service, then your doctor, then your health insurance company in the same hour. But they don’t know what was discussed. They know you received a call from the local NRA office while it was having a campaign against gun legislation, and then called your senators and congressional representatives immediately after. But the content of those calls remains safe from government intrusion. They know you called a gynecologist, spoke for a half hour, and then called the local Planned Parenthood’s number later that day. But nobody knows what you spoke about…
Conservative not republican. With a peppery dash of little-L libertarian. -XC
MOBILE Ok, I'll stop shouting. -XC
Foolish. It's not a $65 cab ride, it's a $192 cab ride. If you want the $65 version, go stand on the curb and wave your arm. If you want the $6 version, go ride the bus. If you want the $1 version and a better arse, get on your bike. -XC
All I know about iTunes is that when people talk about Apple design philosophy and how brilliant the guys at One Infinite Loop are, I know they're not talking about itunes. It's the Joe Biden of Apple. Which makes their crappy ear buds their Hilary Clinton, I guess. _XC
Are you sure these are fake quotes? =XC
Pffft. I call BS on that poll, not just because it's Salon (though that is usually sufficient) but because it doesn't make any sense. On the other hand, maybe it's 'startup math' - if a second person signs up in Delaware, then Obamacare has doubled in value to the state of Delaware... _XC
Chicken dumped at shelter? Dude, lunch. Problem solved. -XC
Well, that is an awesome link. Plus multiply those miles by four legs.... -XC
Facebook isn't getting it from google, a third party ad exchange is using it to serve you ads all over the internet. Turn cookies off and install an ad blocker and you won't see any of that. If you want to tweak a friend google something seriously weird, like "adult incontinence" a bunch of times on their computer. They'll get odd ads for weeks. -XC
Ha, not specifically, but the word "olympic" is restricted in copyright in every country that participates in the olympics. So if you see "Olympic pizza" it predates 1976 or whatever the year was that Congress threw yet more copyright law under the bus. -XC
Excellent - another tech geek....
Oh, wait, I wasn't there but.... Back in the day (1983?) at Nortel I went to a bachelor party for a guy in our group the night before the wedding. At about 11pm I was done and took a cab home - they were headed out to an all night club. 11am ceremony, ya'll. The next day, we show up at 10:40 or so and are met by a groomsman saying that the ceremony had to be moved but the reception is going to be on time and to just go there and hang out until the bride shows. Note: not the couple, the bride. Hmmmm. So I go hang out with my date, all is confusion, they let us in around noon, the bar is open, we're having a few adult beverages and waiting and waiting and waiting. Around 2pm they bring out the food, we fall on it like zombies in a schoolbus. (Sorry) Around 4pm the father of the bride comes out and tells us the ceremony is complete but the groom is "unable to make it." I figured he was passing out drunk and they just did the necessary offline and that was that. Nope, later I find out that his buddies took him to the airport and put him on an 6am flight to DFW. At around 8:30 am the nice flight attendants in DFW put him on a flight to ... Alaska. So he got married "over the radio" from the cockpit. But wait. At some point his "friends" took all his clothes off and painted his entire body from wrist/neck in ... blue with fountain pen ink. So on their honeymoon to the Cayman islands, well, I'm sure the pix were interesting. He actually changed jobs within a few weeks after basically not talking to anyone in the team after getting back. I was so glad not to be part of that. _XC
I handed a friend a green pepper (think pencil shaped/sized) on a stick in a nice middle class Indian cafe and said "eat this." We were the only two white guys in there and before any of the more sensible people with pepper reference could stop him - chomp, chomp, swallow. Four of five mano lassies later he could talk. He said bad words. Two years later at my going away party in a different place, with 100 of our team there, he handed me a similar pepper and everyone chorused "eat this." It was horrible. _XC
Well, all internet arguments end in "Nazi." -XC
We need a filter on that, or keywords or something. Because I do NOT want to turn on my internet news and see a social security protest. Just saying. -XC
There are tons of 'em. Especially in India, Eastern Europe, and some of the America's - we hired a ton of great Brazillan female programmers. Nothing like a majority, but a lot more than when I was in the biz. I remember at Nortel we had one black female engineer. One. Amusingly she got promoted so fast she never did any real engineering work. -XC
Well, with video skype you can kind of avoid the trip alltogether for most things.... I guess the other thing to consider is: what can you do on the journey. With in-air wifi the airline trip has dropped to only a few hours of non-work time. So in some ways the 8+ hours to go to the other coast only has a "cost" of two or three. -XC
Do what US presidents and legislators do when caught out: make a fake but real sounding apology and stay on message no matter what. Footballers may have different tactics, I dunno. -XC
Thanks SO much for including that bit about goal direction. I liked the music - the guys running car-talk should see you and juice up their stuff. -C PS - My only suggestion would be to consider interleaving the interviews for contrast.
Room-mates. I had two or three at all times. -XC
It's clearly a gross 4th amendment violation. Wonder if this will wake up some people who think the first and second amendments should be "living" and "flexible for the modern era." -C
I would have said "government" rather than liberals/conservatives as to who is responsible for ruining schools. I think schools with big endowments should lose tax exempt status and/or have a permanent 1-5% yearly tax on their capital. It would, er, sharpen them. Anyway, off topic. I would also be interested to learn more about how federal money for research has changed schools from what we view as the "golden era." -XC
He was, while at MSNBC, convicting Zimmerman, comparing FL to "Selma in 68" and in general being his race-hatred inciting self. Nice gig: cause the news, then report on it. Wonder if he's paying his taxes yet? _XC
For me it was really a matter of time, not lack of interest. -XC
Laymen can't figure that out. I prefer the Mars Attacks version. -XC
Cursive - completely useless. Pitman shorthand is arguable. Fast and clear printing would be very useful. Also, just a note: no way the gov't should be able to tell a private school or homeschooler what to teach, etc. -XC
Salmon, asparagus, and prosecco. Yum. -XC
Oh, yeah, and from wikidedia: Bang snaps consist of a small amount of gravel or coarse sand impregnated with a minute quantity (~.08 milligrams) of silver fulminate high explosive and twisted in a cigarette paper to produce a shape resembling a teardrop with a tail. When stepped on, ignited, or thrown on a hard surface, the friction-sensitive silver fulminate detonates, producing a sharp salute similar to that of a cap gun.
Despite producing a legitimate (albeit tiny) high-explosive detonation, the extremely high mass ratio of gravel to explosive acts as a buffer to ensure that the devices produce only the audible "crack" of the supersonic shockwave; they are incapable of producing physical damage, even if discharged directly against skin, and the detonation frequently fails to even break the thin paper holding the ingredients.[2] The explosion is also too weak to propel the gravel any distance, which usually falls to the ground. This makes them safe for use as a children's toy, for which purpose they have been widely sold across the world since the 1950s. They are also a common part of Chinese New Year celebrations."
Haven't you been watching the IRS stuff? The government, today, cares less about our liberties than ever before. I'm going back in my den and wait for spring. -XC