Messages

31

Off-Topic / Re: Driving to work

« on: December 09, 2016, 11:46:06 am »Message ID: 1110103

I'm about a mile away from a highway, so I take that to work. It only takes about 5-10 minutes to get there.

32

Off-Topic / Re: Favorite Christmas Memory

« on: December 08, 2016, 01:08:50 pm »Message ID: 1109961

I still remember when we had traveled to my Grandmother's house, driving the whole way there. I had just stopped believing in Santa, but my younger sister was still a believer. Because I "knew" my parents had to pack our gifts in the car, on Christmas morning I was completely dumbfounded when both my sister and I got new bikes! We didn't drive to Grandma's with the bikes, so where did they come from?! I later learned that my dad had ordered them from a catalog and picked them up from the store on Christmas Eve when us kids went to bed.

33

Off-Topic / Re: Careful when you buy big box items

« on: December 08, 2016, 12:56:03 pm »Message ID: 1109948

I've also heard about a rash of thefts of delivery boxes, esp. around the holidays. People will cruise around neighborhoods during the middle of the day (when most people are at work) and will *bleep* up any FedEx, UPS, etc. boxes off of the front porches. In order to get around this form of theft, people use their business address as the delivery address to ensure that they are the only one to get the item.

34

Off-Topic / Re: Favorite Christmas Music

« on: December 07, 2016, 01:01:36 pm »Message ID: 1109722

I too love Pentatonix, and have been a fan of theirs starting back when they competed in The Sing-Off. Their Christmas music is very beautiful, esp. when you consider that they use no instruments except for themselves.

I also really love "Jingle Bells" by the Barenaked Ladies. I think that it is just a very fun song, very childish in places which tends to put me in a Christmas spirit.

I also like the blended song "Silent Night / Night of Silence" (here song by the St. Olaf choir from MN). I think it is so beautiful how the "Night of Silence" just fits in so well with the more familiar "Silent Night".

35

Off-Topic / Re: Tea/coffee

« on: December 07, 2016, 12:34:34 pm »Message ID: 1109721

For a long time, I was not a coffee drinker in that I never really liked the taste of plain coffee (I still don't), and the only way to add flavor seemed to be thru flavored creamers which tend to be high in both sugar and fats. However lately I've found more flavored coffees, even from mass producers like Folgers, and as I've started drinking coffee more often in the mornings. And my coffee habit has only increased after I picked up a single-cup brew machine; my GF had a Keruig that I'd use on occasion and really liked that I didn't have to brew a full pot just to throw most of it away. But after the morning, I tend to drink more tea, esp. unsweetened iced tea.

36

Off-Topic / Re: still sic as hell

« on: December 07, 2016, 12:21:10 pm »Message ID: 1109719

Yes, that title is sic [sic] as hell Just kidding. But seriously, hope you feel better soon! Get some rest and plenty of liquids (esp. if the food poisoning is dehydrating you).

37

Debate & Discuss / Re: Xmas 2016

« on: December 07, 2016, 12:15:13 pm »Message ID: 1109717

Did you use the term Xmas for a reason?  Maybe more people would reply if you used the term that celebrates the person it's named for. You know; Christ. I see no reason for that particular abbreviation.

Sorry. But that term affects me the same way when people can't say "Merry Christmas" and opt for "Happy Holidays" instead.

The "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός, which in English is "Christ".

The X used to abbreviate Christ is a common religious symbol. It is also found in the Christian symbol Chi-Rho, the 1st 2 Greek letters in Christ (see picture below). It has long been used in Christiandom, well before the secular attempt to remove any religious connotation to the season (as in "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" (even though the term "holiday" is actually religious in nature, too, being a portmanteau of the words "holy" and "day")). Thus the use of the X is not like a name placeholder as in signing on the X, but rather is a valid abbreviation for Christ used by churches dating back to even the 16th century.

38

Debate & Discuss / Re: Jill Stein disruption of election

« on: December 07, 2016, 11:57:13 am »Message ID: 1109711

Each state has a percentage for an automatic recount where the state itself would foot the bill. However, people can still request a recount as long as they pay for that recount themselves. I still don't understand why Stein is the one requesting the recount; she hadn't even got a single state's electoral votes, so the only thing she could hope for would be that Hillary wins those states after the recount. But if she truly wanted Hillary to win, she wouldn't have run herself esp. as a Green Party candidate.

39

Debate & Discuss / Re: child support

« on: December 05, 2016, 10:21:39 am »Message ID: 1109292

In MN, the county will first try to garnish the father's wages, but if the father is unemployed (or is not reporting to the state where he works by working "under the table"), they will suspend his license until he begins paying again (although he needn't pay off his entire debt). My GF has been going thru this hassle herself with her youngest's father (who is notorious for working on farms "under the table" in an effort to escape from paying his child support). I agree that at times it seems like the county is requiring the mother to do investigative work, like having her tell the county where he is being employed, etc. But I think they use that information in addition to their own investigations, probably with the assumption that the mother may know things that aren't readily privy to the county. For example, last spring my GF was able to steer the county in the right direction for his place of employment since her children reported that their classmates had mentioned seeing the father working at a local farm. What is frustrating is that the father has now learned how long the county will wait for child support payment until they suspend his license, so now he's gotten into the habit of waiting nearly the full length of time before providing a payment and restarting the clock (so he's never paying his child support in full, and is able to get away with it without having his license suspended).

40

Off-Topic / Re: Banning books

« on: December 02, 2016, 10:25:17 am »Message ID: 1108562

It is sad when books start being banned.   What's the next step? 

Trigger warnings and safe spaces at universities. Banning certain speakers for unpopular viewpoints. Removing our freedom of speech...

41

Off-Topic / Re: fidel castro

« on: December 01, 2016, 12:30:16 pm »Message ID: 1108294

Good Riddance! I can't understand some of the liberal apologists in this country saying how wonderful he was... For example, Rep. Keith Ellison who is one contender for the DNC chair talked about how Castro was a "mixed bag". Really?! That's like saying John Wayne Gacy was a "mixed bag": yes he murdered a bunch of teenaged boys, but he did do charity work as Pogo the Clown... Or that Stalin was a "mixed bag": yes he used "harsh dictatorial tactics" (as Ellison describes Castro) but he also helped defeat the Germans in WW2. SMH At some point when someone does something so heinous and evil, it overshadows the possible good that the person has done.

42

Off-Topic / Re: videos

« on: December 01, 2016, 12:04:08 pm »Message ID: 1108291

When I tried the Netflix one, it just went to a page listing various available URL addresses ?/

43

Off-Topic / Re: Traveling by car

« on: December 01, 2016, 11:57:12 am »Message ID: 1108288

I like to travel on the road... You get to see so much more when you're driving. However usually when I'm on a trip a long distance away, I don't have the luxury in spending so much time just to travel to my destination. Thus for long distances, I'll usually fly instead of drive.

44

Off-Topic / Re: Starting new threads

« on: November 28, 2016, 02:46:08 pm »Message ID: 1107218

The multiple posters and those that post in the wrong forum board are prob'ly my biggest pet peeves in this forum. Yes, it does tend to occur more often from new members that may not know how the forum bonus works (I'll sometimes see questions about whether you need to start threads in order to get the bonus). And I could also see some computer glitch that causes a person to post the same thread multiple times. But it get frustrating when you see a name that has been on the forum for awhile making these mistakes.

45

Off-Topic / Re: these captchas are insane

« on: November 22, 2016, 09:51:03 am »Message ID: 1106101

I don't see the need for such complication on a captcha....

It's to make sure you are a human taking the survey and not a computer program. It's a deterrent to prevent anyone from using technology to skew the survey results.

The question is not why do we have captcha, but rather why such complication in the captcha... As I mentioned, there are other captcha questions that are not so complicated and subjective, like asking the person to type in the letters / numbers found on a photograph. I've sometimes been fed up with the visual captchas that I'll do the audio one instead. Those tend to be easier to complete and are not so subjective as to what you are to enter in.