Messages

16

Off-Topic / Re: Hacking...

« on: December 21, 2016, 12:50:42 pm »Message ID: 1112043

I have heard from several sources that it would be almost impossible to actually hack the election results. The reason is similar to the reason why Battlestar Gallactica was able to survive the Cylon influence in the 2004 TV series: the voting machines are not networked (or at least not networked into a wide area network, like the rest of the internet). Thus the only way to hack a voting machine would be to actually take apart the voting machine.

I agree with others that it is possible that Russia may have influenced the election had they hacked into the DNC and / or into an unsecured, private e-mail server housed by a high-ranking cabinet member with access to confidential e-mails and relayed that information to wikileaks. But then it still is up to the actual voters to choose whether to believe those reports and to choose which candidate to vote for.

17

Off-Topic / Re: rip *bleep* latessa

« on: December 21, 2016, 12:16:32 pm »Message ID: 1112039

Poor Richard gets bleeped for using his preferred nick-name. Although he didn't actually produce Hairspray, his acting in that musical did win him a Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

18

Off-Topic / Re: Do you enjoy eating hard candy?

« on: December 21, 2016, 12:09:28 pm »Message ID: 1112036

I enjoy hard-candies second to gum. The reason is that the flavor / candy lasts longer with the hard-candies vs with softer types (I hardly ever actually chew / crunch a hard-candy). Gobstoppers used to be my favorite (esp. the billiard ball sized ones) as I could get them to last several days (putting them by the sink in the bathroom when I brushed my teeth) usually until my parents spotted it and threw that "germ ridden thing" away

19

Off-Topic / Re: How do you dot your handwritten i's?

« on: December 21, 2016, 11:50:21 am »Message ID: 1112035

I just dot it with a dot. However when I'm signing my name, I'll swing the end of my last name over the rest of the letters in order to cross my T.

20

Off-Topic / Re: Happy The First Day of Winter!

« on: December 21, 2016, 11:46:23 am »Message ID: 1112034

Last week, we had temps. below -20 degrees (with wind-chills -40 to -50), plus half foot to close to a foot of snow. Now that winter has officially hit, the temps. are mid to upper 30's. Go figure!

This is why I've seen several calendars that have the winter months as Jan-March and summer months as July-September as this more closely aligns with the actual sunlight times. Eg 12/21 is closer to the beginning of Jan than it is to the beginning of Dec. (and likewise 6/21 is closer to the beginning of July than beginning of June).

21

Off-Topic / Re: Does anyone use a laundromat?

« on: December 19, 2016, 07:52:46 am »Message ID: 1111664

I used to when I was at school... The dorm washers and driers cost about the same, yet were smaller and tended to always be in use. It was just easier to drive over to a laundromat and get all of my load done at once (while studying when waiting on the clothes to finish their cycle). Nowadays if I go, it is just to wash a large item, like a comforter, that I can't fit in my own machines.

22

Off-Topic / Re: why do people have to steal

« on: December 19, 2016, 07:48:15 am »Message ID: 1111663

We've had a rash of "jerk thefts" in the Twin Cities of MN. Not only is it bad enough that they steal something, but what they are stealing or how they do it just seems to add even more bitterness to the thefts. Earlier this year, people were going around stealing the books from the Little Free Library. Then there was a report last week about a man that had slid off the road and crashed. When another car stopped, he thought they were "Good Samaritans" but it turned out that they were just thieves, even taking his shoes! And now a report has come out about people stealing cars. The victims would go out to warm up their car and in some cases return less than a minute later to find that someone had taken their car. SMH

23

Off-Topic / Re: internet browsers

« on: December 15, 2016, 01:21:51 pm »Message ID: 1111119

I use Firefox. I had tried Chrome, but it seemed like every page I went to took a little longer to load, so I went back to using Firefox.

24

Off-Topic / Re: Do you pay for downloading music?

« on: December 15, 2016, 01:14:16 pm »Message ID: 1111115

No, I do not download music, you should buy it then download it.

Why is it better to buy it from a store rather than buy it online and download it? If I have to go to a store, I can only get a CD which I then have to bring home to rip to MP3s that I can then play on my MP3 player, whereas buying and downloading the music online I don't have to go through having to rip the music first; just download it and put it on my player directly. Unless you are talking about pirating and downloading the music, in which case I agree.

25

Off-Topic / Re: women boxers

« on: December 15, 2016, 01:07:24 pm »Message ID: 1111113

Wait, are you talking about underwear or athletes? I guess for the athletes, I don't really care either way. If a woman wants to box, that's fine. I actually find the female MMA fighters interesting to watch. they tend to do more submission moves rather than brute strength to knock-out their opponent.

26

Off-Topic / Re: Do you pay for downloading music?

« on: December 15, 2016, 12:52:43 pm »Message ID: 1111111

I've only paid to actually download music; not to stream it as more sites are turning to. I've been a member of E-Music for many years. At first they were mostly indy artists and off-genre (not any of the mainstream genres, but more like folk, Celtic, etc.), but now they are getting more mainstream artists as well. When I had originally signed up, I was really interested in Celtic music, so it was an excellent deal, but as they've added more of the mainstream artists, the cost of their songs have also increased too. Now if there is a particular song that I want, I'm more apt to check out Amazon.

27

Off-Topic / Re: would u do an dna test

« on: December 12, 2016, 10:15:51 am »Message ID: 1110621

I'd like to do a DNA test, but not for ancestry reasons... I'm currently diagnosed for Type 2 diabetes but I do show several signs that it may in fact be a form of late onset type 1 (sometimes referred to as Type 1.5 since it shares sing and symptoms of both forms). Having a test to definitively determine which type I truly have would probably aid in the treatment of my disease.

28

Off-Topic / Re: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

« on: December 12, 2016, 09:56:54 am »Message ID: 1110619

From what several SciFi fans have been saying after the premier this weekend, it is going to be a very good installment in the Star Wars saga. I can't wait to see it myself!

29

Debate & Discuss / Re: Xmas 2016

« on: December 12, 2016, 09:50:59 am »Message ID: 1110618

Although the usage of Xmas does have a long history, I think part of the reason why you are seeing its usage more often is due in part to what paints was talking about... Commercialism. Although businesses aren't trying to slight Christians, they are more focused upon the "almighty dollar". Whether used in a headline (like in a 1922 Ladies Home Journal cover as shown below) or in Christmas cards, addition letters in typeface costs more money. Hence you'll often see common abbreviations used in less formal writing, whatever the word happens to be, and in this case the use of the abbv. of Xmas.

30

Off-Topic / Re: Musical Instruments Named After Musicians

« on: December 09, 2016, 11:55:03 am »Message ID: 1110104

I'm not sure about general classes of instruments, but there's the Stradivarius violins named after Antonio Stradivari (both instrument maker and player), and the Les Paul guitars named after the musician of the same name.