I seem to recall US Grant smoked like 20 cigars qd -- I don't know where I heard that (sometime in HS). That's a lot.
I seem to recall US Grant smoked like 20 cigars qd -- I don't know where I heard that (sometime in HS). That's a lot.
I also recall that Grant's reputation as President has improved a bit in recent years, as historians have considered that his thorough repression of the KKK, which Southern historians had held against him, was probably a good thing.
That's interesting. I fucking hate the KKK! Good for Grant.
I love that name, Ulysses. You still see some people with classical names, like Hector and stuff, but I hope it makes a resurgence in the trends.
If I ever have kid that doesn't get flushed out I shall name him Achilles! Bad-ass.
Make sure he has strong heels.
Yes, Grant smoked a LOT, and eventually died of cancer. There has indeed been something of a reappraisal of Grant's Presidency in recent years, but he still hasn't climbed very far up the historical rankings.
Well duh! I might even dip them in some magic potion!Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
OK, serious one -- I spent a day today in bed because of some mysterious environmental allergy.
(a) Do the jennifer lawrence photos @ acidcow.com look like she might have been underage in some of them? That would make me enraged and pretty sick
(b) a soft keyboard bag I've stashed in my bedroom near a window has a LOT of what appears to be mold on it. (i) why and (ii) could that be in part a cause of my recent symptoms (viz, aches, pains, congestion, whatever)? i haven't opened those windows in 5+ years.
(c) is anyone else feeling like they should give something up for Lent? i was chatting with my local local liquor store cat about cigarette brands, and he said "ur a regular customer, so maybe i should order that brand -- a few other people asked about that" so i say "hey, man, not on my account, because i should not be coming here during lent." -- he was honestly had a good rant: "you will die! i have a wife and a kid! don't do it!" I know, just a goof, but srsly I have to reassess my spiritual and corporial realms. Yeah, laugh all you want at the "atheist strict(ish-not-ish) Catholic" but it all makes sense, Wodehouse!
1. I am not going to check out pictures to see if a girl in them is underage. I am certainly prepared to believe there's room for a lot of outrage about what has happened to Jennifer Lawrence.
2. Mould is tough stuff. I kinda doubt that it's making you sick, but I doubt if it's helping.
3. It's been a long time since I gave up something for Lent. I can respect the willpower, but I kinda like my stuff.
Well that's no fun!
Yeah, I like my stuff too, but maybe abstinence is better for a few things, at least for a little while. Like for my imaginary son Achilles, abstaining from not-having sex or not-racecar driving, or my imaginary daughter Clostridia, abstaining from not in-breeding.
er, for that last, it was supposed to be "abstaining from abstaining from not-breeding" obviously
now you see why logic needs stuff more than words?
or.......well, there are better examples.
modal mu-logic! run!!!!!!
We're made of stronger stuff.
Stronger than modal logic's expressive power?
You should know better!
Real question:
Why is it after walking up a pretty good hill and cool weather out, if I go into a grocery store (the heated kind, with plenty of people in it to boot), I almost immediately break out into SEVERE sweat? I'm talking, like if you saw me in a hospital bed, you would say: "ice bath, stat! and tetracycline!"
Believe it or not I've had a year each of college chem and physics, but I think it's something with condensation or something.
ALSO:
Was watching *Yankee Doodle Dandy* again -- I'd forgotten that Cagney was not just a great dancer, but that was some virtuosic shit, at least to my eyes. Not much of a singer, but holy shit he can dance the shit out of that.
So, where'd he learn to do all that shit?
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 25 Feb 2015 at 04:57 PM.
Practice, practice, practice! Natural ability didn't hurt, either.
I'm pretty sure practice could do it. I'm skeptical about the role of talent -- look how many <20 pianists can do very impressive things. I can only notice technique in something like dancing, which I can't/won't/wouldn't do.
Talent, to me, is perfect technique (which a trained ape can do), combined with feeling.
Apparently he got the technique the way anyone else does -- viz., practice -- but not just the feeling but the enthusiasm (real or simulated).
Incredible.
QUESTIONS:
I. What, why, and how to find a backscratcher/exfoliator/loofah for using in the shower? I'm have a good bit of French in my blood, so I don't bathe all that often (but I meticulously groom myself and take pride in my appearance! fuck you! if I had a moustache it would kill your pets and take your women!) My back has been feeling grimy and greasy lately, and although I do my best to thoroughly towel-off, it seems I need to upgrade my arsenal of hygiene-related tools.
II. Is there a better anti-allergy-med than an antihistamine like Benadryl (what is that, like diphenhydramine or something?)? I heard the other day some people got good results from claritin............that is..................fuck, well I can't remember the generic name, but whatever that is......shit that's going to bug me not remembering. oh well,.
III. Pool-players: did anyone else who enjoys playing have as much trouble as I did learning to walk a single ball down the rail to a pocket? for simplicity's sake, let's say ignoring where you have to get around the edges of a side pocket. It only gets worse, but I can tell you the only way I made those shots when I was coming up was basically dumb luck.
All right I need a damned answer statim -- where to get a ball cap with a nice big brim that is actually sized NOT M/L S/M that can fit my fucking head. I can do with 7 5/8, with some stretching, but 7 3/4 is better, and it better have a big enough height to fit my freakish head. Think Barry Bonds, but without the bucks or the fuck.
The usual outdoor stores online have some OK looking ones, including a nice-looking one from Columbia Sportswear that is cheap enough, with the whole desert-style fabric sunshades on the side, but they only say "goes up to 7.25"
Fuck that shit.
++++++++++++++++++++
Oh yeah, and I wasn't talking in pool about just a short shot, more like, if the cue is on one end of the long end of the table, and the target is frozen to the rail at the other long end, maybe half-way between the pockets. Let's say there's some natural-english angle there. Yeah, I know the theory since I was a skateboarder punk, but that is fucking difficult. I'd be just as inclined, on a small bar-table, to take my luck with the long bank.
loratidine. i remembered that sometime last night after about 3L of wine. i rule!
OK I have a good one: why do single people have pets like dogs and cats? Excluding people who use dogs for hunting or cats for mousing and the infirm and the disabled, of course.
Yeah I had a cat with this thing I was living with -- it was kind of fun, like having a thing we could do together to amuse ourselves. She'd trim her nails, I'd build crazy rube goldbergesque things for her to climb on, the cat, and the the cat would nestle in bed between us. It was fun!
And people with families -- kind of for the same reason as above -- I think that's great. People who love animals are, IMHO, better than those who do not, and so it's a mitzvah to raise your kids with that ethos.
But WHY would a healthy, single person, male or female, ever want to have a dog or cat? Why not just get a houseplant and spare the rest of us your dumbass pet shitting all over the sidewalk or hiking trails?
I think it's fucking weird, and a sign of being emotionally stunted.
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 07 Mar 2015 at 04:08 PM.
Well, I dunno. When I was single, I never felt the need for a pet, but I've known enough good people who had one that I can't fault them.
Yeah, me too -- one of my very best friends, who still is, albeit down in Hotlanta so haven't seen her in a while, had a big old malamute-ish husky. And for some reason that doggie really "looked up" to me (it was weird, he'd always wait before a door until I went first -- and I'm wasn't an aggressive imposing guy in those days, just a timid scholar).
But seriously, I'm not really trying to fault anyone, I'm just wondering exactly "why?" Are they lonely? Bored? Scared woman who wants a pit-bull but can't afford a boyfriend?
Lonely, most of them, I'd say. I've lived with people so long now that it's hard to remember when I didn't, but I remember being lonely. Myself, I never thought a pet would help, but people differ, eh?
They do indeed. A pet is no guarantor of happiness, but I know people who couldn't really be happy with one.
I'm not quite getting this.
Speaking of questions, I think I saw something on some other board where EH might be vacationing in Atlanta (no, I'm not stalking, I just occasionally scan the "news") -- TBH, there isn't shit to do for sightseeing in Atlanta, but it's a cool place to kick-back, relax, enjoy the people. I think Sherman saw to that. You gonna have a good time?
ETA and also, watch your fucking back. Even an innocuous-seeming neighborhood can have shit go down in broad daylight.
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 07 Mar 2015 at 05:54 PM.
All right, I got one:
the pollen-count has been high out here for a number of months -- it's not just me, but random people I talk to have confirmed it's fucking shit on ice.
IOW, bad.
So WTF is the deal with waking up every morning and, while shaving, finding random crap around my eyes?
It is fucking crusty.
I "invest" in guaifenesin or whatever in tablet form and use it regularly, and it helps.
But, back to my question, dude, srsly? bags under the eyes, crust around my eye-holes? This is not acceptable.
I can only conclude that the exposure to fresh air that keeps me free from cold/flu is the very thing that contributes to my reaction to pollen.
Is this true or false?
Yeah I need a fucking answer fast! Or....well...maybe I just want an answer fast.
any kind will do.
no, I'm not stalking you, EH, I just saw some rando thread about Atlanta, didn't register the OP, and was like "Hey -- holy shit! I've spent a few weeks in Atlanta -- maybe there is something to do there next time I go visit besides watching drunks puke on the bar on Peachtree! TBH, I don't often bother reading that board, but I do very occasionally view a thread for entertainment's sake. Hell, beats cracked.com or even the NYT these days. ETA I saw three crimes that could have been violent occur when I was there a few years ago in a single day, just sitting on the front porch at my friend+husband's place in Reynoldstown -- not a good neighborhood, but at a glance it would seem like any other lower-middle class neighborhood with "starter houses" and families. It was also hot as hell, with a shitload of june bugs -- and I'm used to humidity and heat. However, the music scene is *incredible* -- assuming you have big ears and can deal with lots of different styles, it's great. I got to jam in a HUGE multi-plex studio with a great drummer, just screwing around, and that was a non-prestigious studio, just in the neighborhood, but a revamped factory with dozens of individual studios, with all the baffling, room treatments, whatever. Who knows what else is out there?
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 09 Mar 2015 at 02:19 PM.
Here's one -- I'm killing a few minutes in the park.
These guys have a MAJOR operation going, spreading out in at least a few blocks -- gawd knows when they started this morning. So they're taking out all ALL the grass with heavy machines, down to the bare dirt.
The cats are working and some are wearing ear protection, so I'm not going to bother them to ask, but why this? Is this a farming thing, like rotating crops or whatever? Never once seen park maintenance done this way.
Just a guess, but it's possible the grass is shot and they're planning to totally re-sod.
Eventually some lady-lawner and a few dudebros came by and in a lull in their conversation I asked WTF! (In a nice way!)
Apparently they do this every year. Don't know why I've never noticed, but apparently that's how they roll.
Yeah, so like, yeah, what *exactly* do people die from if they say "drank himself to death"? Yeah, we all know Dylan Thomas and all the hard cases -- I'm guessing just plain heart failure, probably not helped by diminished respiratory ability.
I hate these slang terms.
Weird. So I am catching some Wifi up at my condo clubhouse, and felt a bit peckish, so I open the fridge and there's a nice Trader Joe salami in there. I figure, hey, community chest, any reasonable person doesn't leave ess in the fridge unless they are 2 lazy to throw it in the trash.
I'm not one of those nurds who carries a multi-tool or a laguiole in his pocket.
Wow, it was like attack of the sugar ants! I don't know where they come from, but, man, they know what's happening.
Anyway, I don't think I'm wrong to have a slice of meat that was left in thet, I'm not clubhouse fridge -- is that a CC&R or something? I figure fair game, and it's a community.
On the same note, a very nice lady went to a lot of trouble to return a flash drive I lost miles away from where I live, and so I like people today and last week.
So, yeah, question is, am I wrong to eat what somebody put in a fridge and apparently discarded? I don't think so, but I want to know if there's some code I'm violating. Believe it or not, I'm not a scumbag looking for a free lunch -- OTOH, I'm no dummy so if I'm hungry, I'll take some food, provided it's legally obtained and I don't step on anyone's toes.
Well, I think most people would figure that if they leave something in a fridge like that, without a name or a "touch and die" note or anything, that they're giving it to the cause.
Thank you! Yeah, I spent more than a few minutes wondering, but in the end, meh, this is basically a public place, so "attractive nuisance" rules apply. Hey, man, it's just a sausage, and what am I going to do, like agonize over it?
Next time don't leave a bunch of shit in the fridge -- I'm not the police, nor competent to decide what is abandoned and what is just "eh, so lazy," or "maybe I'll leave this for the next guy/gal!"
Yeah, I got one. So it seems I basically spend most of my time here doing the same thing I do on FB -- viz., just chatting and occasionally ranting (in a SFW way) -- on my timeline. So, you guys should like friend me on FB (send a PM) and let's just be done with it. This board is far, far better than the other genInt boards, and I enjoy chatting and getting good advice, but half the time it feels like I say the same stuff here that I do on FB.
I'm not on FB and have no plans to be. So stick around, Jizz!
How come old people don't like Facebook?
lol!
I only like it because I very judiciously only hang on my own "timeline" and, because of privacy reasons, as well as basically sanity, just am "friends" with people I actually know. Believe it or not, I actually make it a policy to avoid cursing (well, I can hardly refrain, but I put asterisks where the good stuff goes), in case one of my nephews peeks over my sister's shoulder on her phone or whatever.
But man, I have a few friends RL who are some live wires -- still, it's good fun for me. More fun than just texting mano a mano.
Yeah, I'm gonna stick around here -- you guys are pretty mellow, and, obviously, I enjoy rapping whenever I have a spare minute. Hey, it keeps the voices quiet! (I'm not sure if I'm joking or not -- I have a really vivid internal monologue, as well as some kind of "musical ear syndrome," but at least I know what's real and what's not).
OK, here's a question. Maybe it's a little personal, but something bad happened at the start of this term, financial-aid-wise. It turns out that what they call "post-baccalaureate" students (those who already have a Bachelor's degree and who are returning to either take prerequisites for entry to [mostly technical] graduate school) have a hard limit on a mere 90 credits before they want to cut you off from Federal (US) Loans.
Well, I'm registered for a full load this Spring (a 400-level course on modal logic, other "non-classical" logics, and quantification theory, a Math course on numerical analysis coupled with some semi-bare metal work on implementing some number-theoretical stuff, and a CS course on, basically, reverse engineering in Assembly language), and was really super-stoked to finally be doing some work that "ties together," at least in my own way of thinking.
I guess I have a few options: there is an appeal form that needs to be submitted soon-ish, which I intend to fill out (but there's no guarantee), or, just continue with my courses and end up owing the school a bit chunk of change, which will mean, in the short-run, I won't have access to my transcripts (but I will have the ability to do pretty well in any kind of technical interview), as well as dodging some creditors until I can figure something out, OR, spend about three months passing the Cisco Certified Networking Associate test, which a friend I trust has parlayed into a pretty nice career on the other side of the country (USA).
Even without a CS degree, I think my knowledge of systems-level programming are big checks in the positive column (I'm not a C guru, I know the libraries pretty well, and can hold my own creating object-like ADTs using structs and know many of the idioms people expect). If I go that route, I guess, in addition to updating LinkedIn and angling for an entry-level technical writing job (which, despite what some internet nerds say, I'm as or more qualified than anyone else to do), pick up some temp work in the short term while I fill in some gaps in my knowledge of C++ (not my area of interest, desktop programming, but I'm good enough to grab a cert in that, and in C as well, which I find to be the superior language in every respect except, perhaps, for large-scale projects, as well as the CCNA, which is by all accounts from friends and elsewhere, is pretty challenging -- but, I have a good memory for random details, provided I put in a little elbow grease and it's something I care about).
Apologies for not breaking things up into nice little paragraphs. And, yes, when I wish to, I can actually string some sentences together in whatever level of discourse is appropriate.
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 26 Mar 2015 at 02:37 PM.
Q1
Yeah, so what's the deal with Yan-Can-Cook numerical analysis professor? I love this guy -- super-energetic, and I have zero trouble with his thick accent. But he has a lecturing/demonstrating style similar to a French professor -- everything is punctuated with "right, right?" "you see, OK?" "this part so easy, you see?" as he polls the crowd with his eyes.
Maybe I'm a bit cynosure, but he always looks at me when polling the crowd.
We're doing super-easy implementations at the moment of approximating roots of polynomials in one variable and refining some coding techniques for sets of linear equations. Yeah, no shit, I know. And, it's 11:30 three times a week, so I'm awake and alert and just scrupulously taking notes (because I like to take notes -- keeps me awake, I like paper, and pencils).
At ZERO point do I look confused. When I notice, I make eye contact and nod appropriately (there are degrees of assent, as non-autistic people who are good at non-verbal cues realize).
Q2
Yeah, here's a good one. So I'm at 13 days of a 750 calorie/day diet. Literally. I come home M-F at 17h30-18, eat one box of macaroni and cheese (~750 calories) and have a French press pot of coffee. I cheated exactly ONCE, a week ago, when I drank a gallon of homemade wine. And today, just ten minutes ago, I bought a fifth of corn liquor so am drinking that.
Zero weight loss, according to a bathroom scale with precision one tenth of a pound.
Weird.
Also, I have not been doing my meager set of 100 pushups per day since December or so of last year. And just my usual walking of a few miles a day. So, no muscle.
Also, the sodium of my diet is not in excess of more than 75% of the RDA of sodium.
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 17 Apr 2015 at 08:49 PM.
Q3
i have a bunch of t-shirts. Most of them are (black) and a few solid colors.
My question: I have one with my alma mater (NYU) on it, which happens to be a pretty comfortable t-shirt. i have recently purged all ill-ftting clothes from my closet, and given them to charities.
Am I a dick if I wear this if i have no other clean T-shirt and I'm just knocking-around town? Obviously, NYU's Comparative Literature program is, and was, superior to Columbia's, which is why I went there, but I live i a predominantly-white small town (Portland, OR), where people generally use cars or bicycles to get around, so anything resembling a city of any import is viewed as ridiculous.
At the same time, this is my town -- I grew up here, and chose to return twenty years later. '
Or, should I say, suck it, white peckerwoods?
So, should I destroy all clothes bearing the mark of chocolate cities?
Q3
What would be the problem with wearing an NYU shirt? You went there, it's your shirt, it could be a good icebreaker and lead to some good conversations.
Well, it's no problem. It cost 14.95USD I guess, and it was hanging in my closet from the last time I did laundry (probably years ago).
it's just, in the United States, as I'm beginning to understand, small towns like Portland, OR have some kind of chip on their shoulder about big-city people (even though I was born and raised in true cow-towns though the age of 17 or so in Oregon), so, whatever.
same thing about the black/white thing. Honestly, it's not that I'm a big fan of African-American Culture, but, somehow, African-Americans in a small town like Portland seem to fucking love me. god knows why. i don't fucking love them -- in fact, I don't give a shit. But in a white car-town fly-over town like this, sometimes maybe just it's appreciated.
Write a song about that, spitz, or whatever
If people have a problem with your NYU shirt, maybe it's a quick, easy way to weed out the dickbags, and the cool people won't judge based on a shirt...
Black people probably like you because you don't treat them like shit. Crazy theory, I know!
I can certainly relate to the small town thing. Maybe I should write about that. Will keep you posted.
Yeah. You do that. Go right ahead and do that.
Question: I have a new thing prepared for the case when someone gets in my face after I probably offend them.
"What's up, dude?"
--(points finger at person), "You should be more careful."
"What's up, dude?"
--(points finger at person), "I wouldn't worry about it."
"What's up, dude?"
--"You should watch out."
"What's up, dude?"
--(points finger) "I try to not get caught."
"What's up, dude" (from a uniformed person)
--"I can't remember."
"What's up, dude" (from a uniformed person)
--"Hi! Nice weather, isn't it?"
"What's up, dude" (from a uniformed person)
--"Walk and talk..."
What else?
Just try them all. It will ward off the crazies on public transport.
I do use them all.
I'm just wondering what's the best.
I think I've settled on using the jerking-off-hand-motion for when some cager "blocks the box" (i.e., ineptly miscalculates their ability to make it through an intersection, and impedes my traffic), but I'm looking forward to the day somebody questions my authority and, if they say, "What the fuck, asshole," I can point my index finger at them, and say, "It looks like you're going to have a problem."
The key is to become something, and not give a shit about some rando, which is the method.
That's how you make tableaux for extended-K modal logics, and that's how you do combinatorics. Practice, until it becomes part of your repertoire.
It's about change and once you've got it, you can stick with it.
I'm not going to ask, "Does that make sense?," because it makes perfect sense, and it's just the way the world works. So, some of us have to figure it out for ourselves, and I'm glad I did.
I agree with the thinking behind it, it's just I can see the phrase "you're going to have a problem" causing more trouble than it solves.
Well, that's the point. It deflects anything to do with me, and puts it all on the instigator.
Keeps thing simple. [ETA and I'm a simple man: I want to go through life with zero problems, like guy does. Unfortunately, sometimes people have problems and one has to deal with it. That's why I'm here, and talking: to try to figure it out.]
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 18 Apr 2015 at 07:03 PM.
Is there a flashlight at least as bright as a car's high-beams that can be easily carried in the average person's coat pocket? This is for safety walking at night -- you want to be visible, when needed. And to enrage if not permanently injure dickholes of all stripes, when required.
Last edited by Jizzelbin; 23 Apr 2015 at 02:22 PM.
There must be. We were at a concert on Fri. night, and the lights on the musicians' music stands were noticeably bright and tinted slightly blue.
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