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ask reddit: Are you faster with Emacs shortcuts moving the cursor than scrolling and pointing with a mouse?

I enjoy using emacs for a few months now. I use it basically to write my blog posts and do a bit of code (majority in python, HTML/CSS and Javascript) but the more I use it the more I say to myself I won't be as fast using only my keyboard as if I'd use it with my mouse too. Especially when I want to *goto* a specific file+(line or location). Some of you here are confident to be really faster than using both mouse and keyboard? ... If so, some tips would be welcomed :)

The real costs (energy and money-wise) of recycling?

I've always been interested in what the costs of recycling are. It's always seemed to me that it would take more money and energy to recycle paper and plastic, than it would to produce them. I know that it's efficient to recycle Aluminium, because of the refinining process required to manufacture it, but how about the other things we recycle?

I screwed up, should I add water to the secondary after racking?

So, I switched over to a 6.5 gallon carboy for my primary, and I did a full five gallon boil for the first time as well. Anyways, I'm pretty sure I didn't add enough water to account for the water that boiled off, and I think I'm about a gallon short. I had been doing my boils in smaller kettles so when the wort was done I could just add enough water to make five gallons. Anyways, does anyone see anything wrong with adding a gallon or so (of boiled then cooled water) after I rack to the secondary? I'm wanted to dry hops as well, and I had the thought that if I was already a gallon short, I'd be even shorter by the water lost to the hops during the dry hops, and it might make a bad situation worse.

Do you ever forget that the majority of the people that live near you have vastly different political views compared to your own?

I live in a liberal enclave in the rural Appalachia that is home to a liberal arts school and many hippie communes in the hills. Almost every time I leave my city I am amazed how religiously conservative everyone in my region is and I realize why my dream of a socialist utopia isn't popular outside of my town. Does anyone else live in a "bubble" most of the time?

Spanish "Patatas Bravas" - Nice spicey chunk potatoes.

Yesterday I finally pinned down my patatas bravas. I thought I could share. Before I start, this is the sauce my mum used to make. In fact you can google around and it is nearly impossible to find a recipe for patatas bravas that doesn't involve going down to the shop and buying barbecue sauce, which is kind of lame. Please note that the amounts below are aproximate, I cook on the fly, so feel free to experiment with these guidelines. Also this recipe involves the hot spice cayenne peppers, I very much encourage you to try and find your perfect amount. The following are the amounts for one serving: INGREDIENTS: For the sauce: * 1 garlic clove * 1/2 cube of concentrated vegetable soup or 1 teaspoon of veggie bovril * 3 whole dried cayenne peppers or 1 teaspoon of powdered cayenne peppers * 1 spoon of wheat flour * 1 teaspoon of paprika (If you can get your hands on Spanish pimentón de la Vera it's even better, and actually the original spice). * 1 glass of water * 100g fried tomato sauce * 1 spoon of oil For the mayonnaise: * 1 egg * 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar * 100 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil * salt Of course, 1 big potato. PREPARATION: Peel and chop the potato in chunky pieces of around 2cm. Boil the potato in salty water (not all the way through as if to make potato mash) and then deep fry it in your oil of choice. While the potato is boiling you can prepare the sauce. In a frying pan pour about a spoonful of oil and heat. Finely chop the garlic clove and add it to the warm oil and stir until golden. If you are using whole cayenne peppers, add them with the garlic. A bit before the garlic is golden, add the half cube of concentrated soup or bovril and melt it a bit (it's not necessary to melt it all the way), shortly after, add the flour and fry it. Add the paprika or pimentón, and the cayenne pepper if you're using powder. Mix well and add the water and the tomato sauce. Stir until it has a quite dense texture. This is the recipe so far, mix the potatoes with this sauce after frying them. Personally, I like to add some mayonnaise to this recipe, so this is how I make it: In the blender cup add, in this order, the egg, a pinch of salt, the balsamic vinegar and the oil. Put the blender all the way down and slowly bring it up, mixing all the ingredients. Important note on the mayonnaise: * First, this is a tricky sauce, if you've never made it before, it may take some tries before you get it right. Also, blending for too long can turn the mayonnaise into butter. * Second, this amounts have a little less oil than it usually takes to make normal mayonnaise, this makes the resulting sauce have a softer texture, more of a dense liquid than the normal texture of industrial mayo. * Last, and most important, making mayonnaise with balsamic vinegar and olive oil gives it a VERY STRONG TASTE, it may not be of the liking of everyone. Also, that taste fits this recipe very well, but it is not very good for other common uses of mayonnaise where we would want a softer flavour.

Any good "Diablo clone" games available for PS3 (or on the horizon?

I haven't played a "hack and slash" game like that in a while. I really enjoyed the Diablo games and the ones it inspired, I remember a particularly good one called Record of Lodos War for Dreamcast. I think the last good one I played was Baulder's Gate: Dark Alliance on PS2. Please don't tell me that this genre has gone away! I miss killing a skeleton and finding a better axe/sword/pair of boots.

Is the looking for "new friends" code for "I don't want to meet jerks but I am interested in dating" ?

Recently I've been getting a lot of messages from girls who seem to show an interest in me but their profiles say they're looking for "new friends". I'm confused.

Pregnant Friend in Labor: What can I do for her?

Ladies, My friend is having her baby as we speak. She's got a husband and tons of family, but I'm one of her only local friends. I'd like to do something nice for her like make up a casserole or clean her house or something. I'm looking for ideas, so is there anything you wish your friends or family had done for you? EDIT: Thank you everyone for all the helpful responses! I think I'm going to try to do most of what you all suggested.

Tulsa Reddit Meetup: Location And Time

Sorry I haven't been on in the past few days, been a bit busy. However I'm here and ready to get this thing planned and ready. So far we have a date, **Saturday Feburuary 6th.**, but no place and no time. Lazarus845 had a good list of possible locations that I'll repeat here: Sushi Train (51st & Harvard) India Palace (71st & Lewis) Desi Wok (41st & Yale) Kilkenney's (Cherry Street) Hideaway (All over town) El Guapo (Blue Dome District, Downtown) McNellie's (Blue Dome District, Downtown) (Saturday nights are really crowded, here, though) Personally I vote for **Kilkenney's** but if anyone wants to raise objection they are free to do so. As for time: Let's say about **6:00pm**? That time is in or around dinner so it seems a good a time as any. Objections? Suggestions?

I have asked my mom repeatedly to remove my ex-girlfriend form her Facebook buddy list...

But refuses too. She says my ex-girlfriend is her friend, talks to her through there and even keeps in touch with her through phone calls. I could call my EX a psycho for doing this, but I feel like my mom is the one reaching out and making connections with her... anyone else have a problem with their mom doing something similar to this?

Reddit, what cool project can I do with a spare monitor?

I've just upgraded my second monitor to a decent 21" one and I'm left with a semi-decent 19" LCD monitor that I probably won't get much money for. Can anyone think a cool project I can do with it? I've got a bookshelf it could sit on but it's too far away from any of my computers to plug it into. I'm not averse to getting to getting a soldering iron out or spending some money, anyone have any inspiration? Thanks!

Just a quick introduction!

Hello, everyone. I'm Lence on WoW, and I just joined up with the guild. I'm looking forward to playing with everyone!

Does anyone use TappedOut.net?

I'm looking to build importing options into my game and was wondering what online deck building websites people use. I have used TappedOut.net in the past and was impressed by it, so I was thinking of starting there. Is there something better out there that I should focus my attention on? Thoughts?

Need diagnosis: love or obsession? What next?

It all begun when I was young and stupid. Now, few years older and still stupid I ask Reddit for advice. We were both 15 at the time and going to same school. I don't know what struck me that day. In middle of spring I saw her just like any other day. Except that fact, that I felt something strange - later I called it love. My heart was going crazy, pumping blood in my veins like there was no time to waste. Thousands thoughts per second came through my mind. Her presence in same room was giving me so much power to do anything... except for one thing. I couldn't tell her. When I tried, I couldn't say a word. I can't blame it on being extremely shy - that's why I called myself stupid at the start. As time passed each of us got involved in different relationships. We have chosen different colleges so we have lived without news from each other. None of my relationships would last longer that 12-18 months. It's all because of girl I loved few years back. Even when I tried, I couldn't forget her or stop loving. Sounds silly, but hurts a lot. Ten years after first described event I said to myself: "OK, let's close this chapter". I decided to end with it as I couldn't live like that much longer. I wrote a message. It sad that she's probably happy with somebody else but I need to tell her that I used to like her and still do. Know there's nothing I can do about it, but just want to share it and her this story from her point of view. The point is she's kind of avoiding me. Not answering emails, ignoring messages via IM. I know, what I did might seem stupid. It can make me look like a psycho one wouldn't want to know. I could ask on of her friends for her phone number of current address, but that may put me in even worse position - I don't want that. I just want to talk, explain everything and hopefully leave everything behind. So, reddit. Is it love or just plain obsession? What should I do next?

Studying abroad in Barcelona and I want to meet Spaniards, any suggestions?

I am here with a large group of students from America studying Spanish here in Barcelona. It seems that every friday/saturday I end up going out with the Americans I have met because it's easy. Any suggestions on how to break from this pattern? Keep in my mind, I am learning Spanish. My conversations are only best for about 2/3 sentences and most Spaniards are only interested in making conversation with me when they want to take me home. Seriously, I don't feel very liked over here, help?!? I am working on improving my Spanish though hence the reason for my move to Spain.

Feb 1st - Progress reports. Today's goal: Write out your behavior chain.

Welcome to February. Please share more of your experiences and progress. Checking in here every day as a regular habit can and will help! So I dug out a sex addiction book (it was more general than just porn addiction) that I'd bought when I quit. One of the exercises in it is to write out a behavior chain that describes the slow incremental slide to a regression of behavior that occurs when you are trying to quit that behavior. I'll share with you guys what I had written down. * Woke up feeling aroused * Thought about how good it felt looking at porn * Felt guilty and thought I should be strong * Saw something suggestive on TV * Looked it up online because it wasn't porn * Thought I wanted to see something more explicit * Told myself it wouldn't really hurt anyone * Thought I'd make it quick and be done * Looked at porn and started to masturbate By identifying this typical chain I was giving myself lots of opportunities to break the chain when I recognize it beginning. So what you're going to do (even if it's just in a temporary text editor, but better if you write it out or print it) is write out a typical behavior chain for yourself and then think about ways between each step that you can break that chain.

What kind of tires do you use?

I just got a set of BF Goodrich Mud-Terrain T/A's and they are the best traction tires I've ever had.

NYTimes still won't cover: Murder and Torture at Guantanamo reported by the Guards who worked there

A couple weeks ago Harpers' Scott Horton published an amazing expose with new testimony and evidence from Guantanamo implicating the US in torture and murder of detainees, even ones who had been declared innocent and were to be released. The NYTimes refuses to cover the story. Why?

/r/web_design, I'd like some advice on improving my website.

Thanks for looking, here's the link > www.adamtrevillian.com This is a website that I created a few years back to showcase my photography. I am not by any means a web designer, but this is what I've managed to create for myself. It runs smoothly and I've had no major problems thus far - just a few bugs along the way. First off, when browsing through my gallery, you can choose a category to view certain types of images. However, once you open a photograph to view it, it no longer remembers the genre. You hit "Next" and you won't go to the next one in the category, just the next one chronologically. I was wondering if you web experts could figure out how to actually create categories for my images. Also, a couple of my clients would like to see a "Testimonials" page. I've toyed around with the idea, but am not sure where it should or how I would set it up. Should I use a form? Should I put it on a separate page? Please help, /r/web_design! Thank you.

How does one get into the firearms industry?

I'm an Aerospace Engineering major, and I'm trying to see if I can broaden my career prospects a little bit, because quite frankly almost everything that is in my field is dying or in grave economic trouble. Also, I am not picky in my "I like things that go fast" career hopes. I assume that Aerospace would be fairly in line with the design of weapons (I'm basically a Mechanical Engineering major with a specialty in fluids and airframes and such). So, how does someone get into that industry? Do weapons manufacturers hire on interns? I'm kind of asking if anyone has had personal experience in this.

This is why President Obama will never go after anyone from the Bush administration. His own party was complicit in waterboarding, GitMo, ect the entire time.

TL;DR Version: * In 2004 Pelosi objected to a CIA program that gave money to moderate Iraqi political parties in response to Iran funding Iraqi fundies. Pelosi spoke to Rice, the program was dropped. * In 2009 it came to light that Pelosi knew about waterboarding and torture the entire time. At first she lied, but then backpedaled and admitted to knowing. When asked about what kind of objections she raised, she said she never gave any - not even so much as a classified letter to the administration denouncing the torture - saying "No, no, no, no, no, no . . . No letter or anything else is going to stop them from doing what they're going to do." * We know her claims of being helpless are not true, as we now have a verified case of Pelosi, minority party leader, having influence over Bush administration GWOT programs. * No one in the press is hounding her on the fact her party has been in vocal protest after the fact but silent the whole time it went on. Pelosi announced that she would not take more questions on the topic, and the media complied. **EDIT** Here is the link to the actual Washington Post editorial. I'm not sure why this ended up as a self post, but now it is fixed.

DAE get cut off at a bar because they think you're wasted, when really you're just normally very inhibited and the alcohol is just bringing you out of your shell?

Had this happen a few times. I would still be in command of most mental faculties, able to solve differential equations and walk without stumbling, but sometimes when I drink I just open way up and start doing crazy things - especially singing at the top of my lungs, standing up and dancing, and talking to people I don't know a few decibels too loud. This has happened a lot less frequently in recent years but when I was younger people would *always* misjudge my state of inebriety because of it.

This is why President Obama will never go after anyone from the Bush administration. His own party was complicit in waterboarding, GitMo, ect the entire time.

TL;DR Version: * In 2004 Pelosi objected to a CIA program that gave money to moderate Iraqi political parties in response to Iran funding Iraqi fundies. Pelosi spoke to Rice, the program was dropped. * In 2009 it came to light that Pelosi knew about waterboarding and torture the entire time. At first she lied, but then backpedaled and admitted to knowing. When asked about what kind of objections she raised, she said she never gave any - **not even so much as a classified letter to the administration denouncing the torture** - saying "No, no, no, no, no, no . . . No letter or anything else is going to stop them from doing what they're going to do." * We know her claims of being helpless are not true, as we now have a verified case of Pelosi, **minority** party leader, having influence over Bush administration GWOT programs. * No one in the press is hounding her on the fact her party has been in vocal protest **after the fact** but silent the whole time it went on. Pelosi announced that she would not take more questions on the topic, and the media complied. **EDIT** Here is the link to the actual Washington Post editorial. I'm not sure why this ended up as a self post, but now it is fixed.

Need help to find a nice video game to play with my wife...

Hi /r/gaming! I'm trying to find out a good *video* game to play with my wife... We both really liked player Katamari Forever on the ps3. She isn't a gamer and doesnt like games where you have to think too much (like most strategy games). I was thinking about the new super mario on the wii, but has anyone better suggestions. I own a ps3 and 2 ds (but I wouldn't mind buying a wii if necessary...). Thanks for the help! :) PS: Thanks alot for all the comments, I'll look for sure LBP and a few others! This really helped!

Guy posts a picture his daughter drew. We repeatedly downvote him because he's not comfortable with posting pictures to prove he has a daughter. He finally does, and is forced to remove them due to inappropriate comments. You've got to be fucking kidding me, reddit

**Edit:** Wow. I have received (by my count) 333 orangereds in 11 hours because of this post, and I've read them ALL (and didn't even get any karma to show for it :P). Overall, reddit completely restored my faith. Yes, there are an unbelievable amount of jerks and trolls (usually we never get to see them because of the voting system, but in this case each one is an orangered for me), but overall there was an awesome discussion, and there was an outpouring of apologies for the guy. Yeah, there were some definite overreactions (probably the fault of this post), but reddit really came through. I'm once again glad to be a part of the community (I know this really doesn't matter to a lot of you, but experiencing something like this first hand really makes an affect on you.)

Hey Reddit, I need some new hobbies. Preferably something not lame. What do you all do?

As the title says. I need some ideas on new and interesting things to do. The things I do are kind of expensive and I can't do them all the time. What do you all do that is awesome? Oh and by lame, I mean like crocheting or creating boondoggle keychains **EDIT** I am curious about what other people do. It doesn't just need to be a suggestion to me.

International redheads...is Redhead discrimination over-hyped or is it really that bad in some places?

In the US, having red hair is unique but in the grand scheme not so different from being a blonde, a brunette...etc. I've read about redhead hatred, families having to move to different schools, redheads being assaulted; so I ask, is it really that bad where you are? Link to examples

Small plastic devices that could be stabbed into an orange to suck all the sweet juices out....

Ok, There was a device I had growing up that allowed you to stab an orange and the drink the contents like a juice box. The plastic things were orange as well, and had a sort of nozzle on one side and a serrated stabbing part on the other side. It's really hard to describe so I drew a picture. I can't remember if these things had a name, and searching for orange nozzle and fruit tools has been unsuccessful. Help me reddit! You're my only hope! edit: I just ordered a bunch of Squeeters and they will be here in a week :)

AskReddit: Any suggestions for headphones around ~$100?

I'm thinking of getting Sennheiser HD280 Pros, but I've heard that they have durability problems with the headband. Koss PRO4AAs look cool, and have Koss's no-questions-asked warranty, but I have no idea about the sound. Any suggestions?

I grew up in an abusive household. AMA

Child services called. Father arrested, the whole shpeel. Never attended therapy except for a single court ordered session, but am considered by the rest of the family miraculously balanced. Any questions cool with me.

Dear Reddit: My 5 yr old son had this idea before his brain injury in May of '08. Help me make it happen!

I run 2 small fruit & vegetable stores in Belleville, IL (just outside of St. Louis, MO) Belleville Farmer's Market. As with most families who's lives revolve around a small family business, conversation around the dinner table is usually focused on the store. My two sons took a great deal of pride in being able to join in the discussion and my wife and I would always hang on their every word like we were dining with Warren Buffett. Needless to say, the boys got a big kick out of it. My oldest son (Reece) was nearly 5 years old when he mentioned that we should let his classmates on our truck and let them sample the fruits & veggies they don't get a chance to try at home. I was blown away. My 4 year old had just come up with an innovative, fun way to show kids that trying a bite of celery or broccoli isn't going to hurt them and they might even (shudder at the thought) like it! That was just a couple months before we were involved in a car accident on May 31st on the way home from Diego Live! in St. Louis. We were side impacted and Reece suffered a traumatic brain injury that he's still recovering from. While he works harder in therapy 5 days a week than anyone should ever have to, his Mom and I still haven't heard his precious voice since that day nearly two years ago. When Pepsi announced that they were going to be giving grants away for ideas that could benefit the community we live in, I knew instantly I had to submit Reece's idea. Now I need Reddit's help to make Reece's idea a reality. All you have to do is head to refresheverything.com/tastebuds and vote for us. Reece and I thank you!!! Reece was on TV! Clearly, he got his looks from his Mom :) Reece's TV Debut {edit #1} in the interest of full disclosure, I added link to our website as well. {edit #2} added a link to Reece's television special when he was the Variety Club's featured child last year. {edit #3} made it to the homepage!! Thank you Reddit! I'm proud to be a part of this amazing community! {edit #4} Many Redditors are noting that you have to sign in either via FB Connect or by establishing a login with Pepsi before your vote will be counted. You can use 10minutemail if you're concerned about getting spammed by Pepsi. {edit #5} Reece's YouTube Channel for the folks who have asked about Reece's progress since this special was filmed in April. **{edit #6} You did it Reddit! Reece's idea is currently in 1st place! Thanks to everyone who voted!**

Why does my cat lay on odd objects?

My cat will jump on the couch with my wife and I, and inevitably there will be a remote lying there on the couch. He'll go out of his way to lay ON the remote, even though there's plenty of room on the couch to not have a weird object jamming into his rib cage. What's the deal? Is this some weird instinctual thing I just don't get?

(For who it concerns) Most creative/offbeat/non-traditional Valentine's experiences?

I'm in an awesome new relationship (4 months), and been looking for some inspiring, yet unusual ideas for Valentine's Day.

Can you recommend me some good Folk Punk?

I recently discovered a band called Mischief Brew that I was told were "Folk punk". Punk ideals with folk musical styles and instruments. I'm really digging this, does anyone know any other good bands that fit in this genre? EDIT: Thanks for all your suggestions! You reddit folks are just the tops. So far my new favourites are This bike is a pipe bomb, Defiance, Ohio, Andrew Jackson Jihad, and billy bragg. Still looking through the other suggestions.

"Odd health issues" Follow up. A few questions for you guys.

Hello Ladies. First and foremost: Thanks for your support and kind words. Here is a follow up. First post Second post So I went to the Second Opinion Doctor. She was awesome. She took me to her office and we discussed everything very throughly. She told me that the hormone replacement therapy was a little agressive and perhaps more of a 'old school' solution- but not out of the ordinary. They can't test your hormone levels *while* you are on BC- you'll get skewed results. (Maybe this should have been obvious to me in the beginning?) We discussed my options and we think that taking me off BC and installing?/inserting? a copper IUD is the way to go. Sweet. I am offically off the pill now. How exciting. I can't wait to see what changes occur in my body (dropping weight, less mood swings, etc) for the better. I feel like it could really change my life having removed the synthetic hormones from my body. Oddly enough, my S.O. and I have not decided if an IUD is the right thing for us yet. (I have a month to decide before I schedule the procedure.) The doctor said the minimum time to leave it in (to make the money spent on it and the pain of insertion worthwhile) is roughly 2 years. We are still discussing when to make babies. When we feel we will be 'ready'. But I think we have both come to the conclusion that 2 years probably won't make us feel any more ready than we do now. How the hell do you ever feel 'ready' to have kids? ____________________ I was on BC for ten years. Have any of you ladies went off of it after such a long time? Did you notice any changes (bad or good)? Also to those with children (or not)- was there ever a time that it felt like you were 'ready' for children? Or is it almost always a happy accident? This is an exciting period of change for me! Any stories, advice? Thanks for being here for me to blather on to.

Olympic Question: What happens if we don't have enough snow for the Olympics?

I looks like this is a real possibility since we are only 2 weeks away! Do they delay/cancel the whole thing? I've seen single events delayed because of the weather, but with temps way above freezing, and little snow to speak of, this is on a way bigger scale. What happens now?

Help me Reddit! My friend hasn't showered in weeks and I'm getting really worried about him!

Dear Reddit, A long time friend of mine has not been showering. He recently split up with his fiance and I think he may be severely depressed and potentially even suicidal. We've tried talking to him about his condition, but he gets extremely irate. I'm worried that he will develop "staph" and spread it to people who go around him. I don't want to abandon him, but he won't take care of himself. Do you know of any material off-hand I could use to scare him into cleaning himself? I am thinking of threatening to have him committed for a psychiatric evaluation on the grounds that I suspect he is a danger to himself and others as a last resort. Thanks for any advice!

"Spoilerwarning" is at it again (link inside). I clicked "report" on his post. If you've *already* been "spoiled" by him (same spoiler) you can go there, find his long comment and report it too. More (spoiler-free) inside...

I doubt his spoiler is true, given that they said they aren't done filming until April. But whatever... if you haven't been spoiled, even if it's fake, DON'T go to the link above and search for his long post. He's throwing it in to totally unrelated things just to be a dick.

What is the distribution of the residuals between the right tail of a gaussian and the right tail of another gaussian that has been shifted positively by a third gaussian?

I get the feeling that r/stats doesn't like questions, but if anyone has a clue I would really appreciate hearing from you. I'm also curious how the distribution of those residuals would be different if the "shifting" distribution is exponential or poisson. The application is that reaction times normally come from an gaussian distribution where each observation is not significantly different from the values with corresponding percent rank in another distribution, but that after a certain point the reaction times undergo slowing ("reconsideration"), such that those residuals are positive. I want to test the residuals for differences from zero, but I don't know if a t-test is appropriate. Thanks for any thoughts!

I wish there was a badge you could get that would tell any salesperson that "I'm not a fucking idiot, please treat me like an informed human being instead of sack of meat will dispense money if annoyed enough"

My wife and I went to try and sign up at Lifetime Fitness this weekend... And while dealing with the salesperson they gave us, and the treatment we got was so bizarre that I was starting to think that maybe I was on some kind of hidden camera show. They send the guy down, and I have the gall to ask for a tour of the facility, information on the costs of different levels of membership, and what products and services those levels of membership provide. Crazy, right? How dare the customer actually have the nerve to want to know how much he's being charged, and what is being provided for what he's paying for. Madness! (And before it is suggested, my wife and I were both well dressed and articulate, and the cost of any membership was negligible to us. We are not the kind of people that a salesman will look at and assume are just broke-ass looky-loos.) Instead, the guy basically keeps us in the lobby and is balking over a general tour "Wow, this place is 80,000 square feet! Where would I even start!"... Uh, maybe in the exercise area? And then the pool and the fitness studios? Seriously what the fuck? Why do I need to tell YOU what fucking machine in particular I want to use before you'll just walk us around the damned club? It became pretty transparent what he was trying to do... He wanted to get us all worked up over a few specific features so we'd get so excited that we'd just sign up on the spot without worrying about silly little things like price or what is included in our package. It was really insulting to our intelligence... We had basically walked into the place already deciding to get a membership that day, but this douchetard basically talked us out of it by dealing with us like we were retarded money dispensers instead of human beings. So really, I would love some type of badge that says the following to a salesperson: -I am an intelligent and informed consumer that does my own research and does not respond to rehearsed sales ploys. -I don't care what the cost per-month is, I want to know how much total cost I'm on the hook for. -I'm not a cheapskate, but if you don't put prices on your drink menu, I'm not ordering it. -I will not under any circumstances buy an extended warranty or a service plan on an $80 printer, or on practically anything for that matter. -I do not make financial decisions emotionally. Give me information on cost and features, do not attempt to get me "excited" about the product in the hopes that I'll forget about such practical considerations. -In addition to being treated as a customer, I would also like to be treated like a human being. Would that be so bad? Then the salespeople will know not to approach me and waste my time with stupid rehearsed bullshit, and could instead... you know... sell me things using facts instead.

Thoughts on the new, more narrow front tires in F1?

I was worried that the more narrow front tires might make the cars look more like F3 than F1 but now I am feeling better about it. Looking at pictures like This one]( or [this one]( or even [this one. So, it would seem it is not a noticable change and doesn't make the cars look ungainly. However, this picture makes me pretty worried for the fortunes of Renault this year. That nose reminds me too much of their horrid '09 challenger. What do you guys think?

Okay, my cat is nearly toilet trained, but we've got a couple more hurdles. Any fellow cat toilet trainers want to offer advice?

Our planned training schedule looks like this: * Gradually move litter box up to toilet level - DONE * Replace litter box with metal bowl suspended inside toilet - DONE * Gradually reduce litter to ~1tsp - DONE * Replace litter with small amount of water * Increase water level to ~ 2 inches * Take away metal bowl Our cat is doing a great job with #2 (yes, better than having problems with #1). She consistently has 3-4 feet up on the toilet seat when doing the high squat position. With #1, however, she seems to be really wed to getting right down inside her bowl. Yesterday, this resulted in a (traumatic impromptu) bath to clean the urine and litter off of her. I'm thinking about stretching some steel wires across the top of the metal bowl to prevent her totally getting down inside the bowl. I'm also thinking that she'll prefer to sit on the toilet seat rather than perch on some wire. Anyone have this problem? Anyone just want to share their experience toilet training their cat?

DAE walk around the house while brushing your teeth?

I always start roaming around my home when I brush my teeth. It's a thing my dad used to do so I guess I just picked up the habit.

It is not on a console, but here is a good example of...

...electronic roleplaying. To be fair, the idea is creating a pen and paper experience inside of a video game, but still. ALFA, or A Land Far Away.. "The main emphasis of ALFA is on role playing. Our servers are designed primarily to enhance the role playing experience of our members. When playing in ALFA, players are expected to assume the part of their characters, acting in the world as they would, and remain in-character at all times. Our Dungeon Masters create both ad hoc plots and preplanned campaigns to help bring the world alive for our players. This often results in the creation of fantastic stories about which our player bards sing." Oh yes.. the link:

Please suggest a food item that is cheap (and is easy to make in a microwave) that I can take to work to eat once a day. It has to be tasty (I would have to WANT to eat it).

I will have to be taking food to work for a month or so for my lunch meal. I am not struggling financially or anything,...its just I dont want to spend a lot of money on food this month. I have been eating small burritos and would like more variety. Do NOT suggest: Stews/soups, rice, beans, and veggies in general (yuckity yuck yuck!). Processed food is very acceptable. SOmething that can be bought and stuck in a freezer & then heated up in the microwave is ideal. I do NOT want to cook stuff at home to later take to work (I dont like to cook). Ok... suggestions?

What Food Is Indigenous to Australia?

I'd like to get input from Australians for my kid's project. They are studying Australia and we will make food that Australians have grown up eating that isn't McDonald's or U.S. fare. We have a few ideas. I'm not sure I can get any of them to eat vegemite.

Reddit, do you have that one weird in-law?

My sister-in law does weird things like still letting her 6 and 4 year old sleep in the bed with her and then goes and gets in their bed. She turns on every single light in my house when she visits (my house is by no means dark). She gets upset when her kids laugh at my dog humping a stuffed dog. They have no idea what sex is. They laugh and call it bouncing.Then she proceeds to grab the kids and take them to bed. She brings her own bar of soap when staying overnight. Nothing special about it either. These are just the few examples.

Is it Christian to downvote?

If we downvote (pass judgment) to please ourselves and serve no righteous purpose other than selfish satisfaction, is that Christian? There are, certainly justifiable downvotes, but I'm talking about the ones we do just for the sake of dislike.

Protein: Black Soldier Fly

This might gross a lot of you out but an easily raised food source is the maggot of the black solider fly. If you live in an are that's in there natural range and you have a compost pile you've undoubtedly seen those huge 1 inch maggots in your compost pile. Good chance that's a black soldier fly maggot. Black soldier flies do all their eating as maggots. In their adult stage they dont eat which keeps them from being a nasty disease vector like the blow fly. Since they do all their eating as maggots they need to gather all the nutrients they need to go through metamorphosis, fly around as an adult, mate and find a suitable location to lay it's eggs. They're packed with calcium, which could be in short supply in a collapse situation. You can start your own black soldier fly compost bin where almost anything you throw in there will be devoured by these voracious little eaters. They will eat just about anything. Once the soldier fly maggot has gotten it's fill it crawls off someplace to spend the winter and waits for the spring to do it all again. Yes! You can feed them just about anything and then they preserve themselves and will probably stay alive (ie preserved) for months and months. Yeah.. there's just the part about getting over your fear of eating maggots. Lots of people do it around the world everyday. No, I havent eaten any yet.. Im squimish also. I am about to get revenge on the snails plaguing my friends garden though by eating them all! Common garden snails are most likely escargot. For more info about raising black soldier flies check out the biopod and then build your own. I raise thousands and thousands of these guys every summer to feed the fish in my aquaponics system.

Why don't they give the "Super Mario All-Stars" treatment to more games?

Super Mario All-Stars was great. A re-release of a bunch of great games all with a complete graphical overhaul. Am I the only one who wishes they would do the same for, say, Zelda: Majora's Mask for the Wii (or, really, xbox/ps3, but that won't happen) with all fully re-rendered scenes, re-orchestrated music, and maybe even professional voice-actors? I would totally pay good money for that.

Reddit, my tax return looks to be approx. $4K. What should I do with the money?

Before you ask: I only worked for part of the year and I qualify for the Earned Income Benefit, which is why my return is so high.

What would your three wishes be via a monkey's paw?

Please note: a monkey's paw will try to create the worst consequence to grant your wish... (i.e. Wish for money, lose a loved one, collect insurance.)

I think this is the wrong subreddit, but help booting my macbook?

Story is this: my Mac OSX has a virus or something else equivalent that makes it freeze whenever it runs for more than a few minutes, or I try to move around too many MP3's at once. I know that the best thing to do is just reinstall the OS, but before I do that I want to get my MP3's off. I know that it is just the OSX because I have bootcamp installed and it runs fine. My question is, is there someway I can boot up the Mac harddrive without running the OSX, and then transfer my files onto a harddrive? I found this website: but I'm not really sure what to do with any of this information. Let me know if you need anymore info, or if there is somewhere better to put this.

Ask r/entertainment: What's the best way to catch up with Lost? (no spoilers please)

I decided to finally give Lost a shot after hearing years worth of grand praise mixed with very vocal frustration. I'm about half way through the first season and I'm already starting to see why people complain. I just finished episode 12 (the one with Kate's case), and sat there thinking, "W(hy)TF did I just watch that?" In the episode before (trying not to be specific to not spoil anyone else here) someone disappeared, and two other characters made what appeared was going to be a significant discovery. Those two storylines were barely mentioned in the next episode. I can understand glossing over certain plot points to visit another part of the story, but a person is missing, possibly in grave danger, and suddenly it's like it never happened. The characters who were desperately searching in the last episode are now going about their daily business. Say wha? So I figured if the wagon wheels are starting to rattle already in the first season, I'm going to run out of patience quick when I get to the episodes that people really complain about. So I hit the internets in search of an "essential episodes" type of list. Here's one I came up with: There's at least one suggestion there on a few episodes to skip, and apparently it's also an option to just go straight to season four and watch the recap there. Any Lost experts have an opinion? Am I going to be missing out if I don't slog though every episode? I have a hard time believing any good story takes almost 90 hours to tell (121 episodes * 44 minutes), but I'll try and plow through if it's worth it. Thanks in advance, and no spoilers please!

Capture cards: PC hardware is behind the times.

I went to upgrade my capture card yesterday, and found that there are a very small number of cards with HDMI in, and NONE that support 1080p.... Usually PC hardware is way ahead of the game, but in this respect, they are behind the times. I'm baffled by this. I ended up buying an AverMedia 1080i capture card with HDMI in.

What do you guys include in your questionnaires used to get i design direction? I've included mine for logo projects inside.

Company Background: 1. Please describe your product and services and how the help your clients. Look and Feel: 1. Please list some adjectives that describe how your audience should perceive your brand (conservative, warm, aggressive, friendly)? 2. Imagine one of your potential clients is looking at your logo, what would they feel or think at that exact moment? 3. What are the specific colors that you would like incorporate into the logo? 4. Are there any specifics fonts that you would like for us to incorporate? 5. Is there any type of graphic or illustration that you would like for us to create or use? 6. Are there any logos that you have seen that you would like for us to take note of? If so, what about them specifically? 7. Is there any type of look and feel that you would like for us to stay away from? Target Audience: 1. Please describe the primary audience that you are targeting. a. Age, Gender b. Income c. Education d. Profession e. Buying Power(middle –high) Additional Comments:

Dear Reddit, is this remotely feasible, or am I an idiot?

Okay so, being 93 million miles or so from the sun, we see it as it was roughly 8 minutes ago right? Well, in the future (assume we figure out how to travel faster-than-light) could we go, let's say 65 million light-years away from Earth, build a massive telescope, and look at the dinosaurs? Or go further and view Earth at its beginning? Now I realize that the level of technology required is quite unimaginable at the moment, but theoretically, isn't the information there, whether we can get to it or not?

Does Reddit have an autoupdate feature?

Just looking for a way to see new reddits without manually hitting refresh. Yes, I am lazy.

An attempt at comparing the various diffusers on the first test day...

Ferrari Rear end Williams Rear End Mercedes rear end Another of the Mercedes Those appear to be the good shots of the back so far from that gpupdate gallery currently. It'd be cool if other people could share their photos they have found of diffusers. Notably, there are no shots of the McLaren rear end so far.

So, how is/was registration for you guys?

I live off campus, and my little group woke up at 5:47. Needles to say, we high tailed it to GCCIS, where we normally wire in and register. Worked last quarter. But this time it was locked, so we stood outside in the cold, and bummed the wifi to register. I got more core classes, at least. Any horror/success stories?

My friend is going to re-marry a woman who cheated on him, divorced him and exploited him for money.

Here's the situation: He was married for 2 years, and his wife was always being unfair to him. It didn't bother him, he loved her, and he was happy. But then, there are some signs she's cheating. She disappears, and we find out she ran off with some guy. She comes back six months later in debt and asks for forgiveness, says she's changed. He pays off her debts, which takes about half his savings. She then makes him go on a "second honeymoon," to the Bahamas, calling him unromantic when he cites their financial situation. Then, just as his savings have reached a low, they realize his company might lay him off. She divorces him shortly after. She ran off with some of his money, and leaves him emotionally broken. His work performance is affected, and he loses his job. He's a wreck for a year until he starts to pick things up and gets a new job (but the pay is not as good). He even starts dating again. Since he's a good looking, nice guy, he quickly meets a girl. I'm relieved because she seems like a good person. But then his ex-wife comes back (again carrying some debt), wanting to start things up again. He tells her about his new relationship, but she tells him how much she still loves him, how much it was all a mistake, how he shouldn't give up what they had. She convinces him to break up with his new girlfriend, who is crushed. At first the ex-wife doesn't want to get married, so they have been dating for 6 months. My friend now works a 12 hour job. He seems much more stressed now, but he tells me the money is worth it, since his previous job wasn't as good as the one he was laid off from. I can't be sure his ex-wife pressured him to get this job, but they got engaged pretty quickly after he was hired. I and some other friends have told him over and over how bad and unfair this is and will be, but the thing is, this friend doesn't really think what his ex-wife did was all that unfair. He's cool and laid back. He never gets mad or retaliates when someone hurts him, just lets it happen. Sometimes he gets really broken (when she divorced him), but he still keeps the people who did it close to him. He doesn't seem to defend himself by avoiding bad people. He's never avoided bad friends, coworkers, and in this case, women. How do I help him? **Edit:** Thank you for your replies Reddit. You made me realize that I need to mention: This woman has a magnetic personality and is very convincing with words. Words and people are her forte, unfortunately. She also has a way of making unfair things sound justified. (i.e. tossing away a friend who's going through a really hard time turns into "I think it's fair to give myself space from someone I'm uncomfortable with." The more she says, the more you think it's the friend's fault, not hers.) Who knows how reasonable she sounds to him? I think this is really the thing that's making him believe her over everyone else. Two friends confronted her after the divorce. They found out that she rationalized and justified her actions. For example, she seemed convinced that she wasn't wrong to divorce him when his savings were low (due to her debt) and risked losing his job because "it was a healthy financial and mental decision for her." But she did seem really bothered when accused of being amoral and selfish. She tried hard to justify her actions, and said they were being small minded by judging her based on smaller bits in the past and not believing in her ability to be a better person. So, not only is she able to convince my friend she's justified, she's able to rationalize her own actions.

Searching for painting: The Optimist - Russian artist, I think.

Maybe 17 or 18 years ago, I was at an art gallery in New Jersey, which was doing an exhibit on - I believe - Russian painters. One of the paintings depicted a city in ruins, such as after a catastrophe. A stylized man (sort of like a wooden puppet, as I recall) in a suit sat smiling stupidly as he fished in a putrid puddle in the middle of it. I have had no luck finding this, and I just burst out laughing hysterically in the middle of this quiet gallery - something about the sense of it really resonated with me. All I can recall is that this was a Russian exhibit, the painting had to be from the 20th century, and the name "Ratislav Sazonov" comes to mind, although all searches on that name turn up nothing - my spelling may be wrong, and memory may fail. Does anyone know what I am talking about? I'd give anything for a print of this. I have tried google and bing image searches to no avail thus far.

Frank Luntz & Republicans set sights on Financial Regulatory Reform by blaming regulation fro financial crisis

[Frank Luntz Pens Memo To Kill Financial Regulatory Reform ]( *In a 17-page memo titled, "The Language of Financial Reform," Luntz urged opponents of reform to frame the final product as filled with bank bailouts, lobbyist loopholes, and additional layers of complicated government bureaucracy.* And the Republican disinformation machine continues full steam ahead. Facts be damned. Welcome to the idiocracy that is modern Republican Party. We have only ourselves to blame.

Are you a formally angry driver who's not anymore? How did you do it?

I'm in a horrible, aggressive mood on the road. Chances are I've cut you off and ridden your tail. I don't like it and in virtually ever other facet in life I'm a pretty laid-back guy. Have you gone from a psychotic angry driver to polite, it-is-what-it-is attitude when driving? If so, how?

Making Paella tonight - What pan to use... Cast iron or Stainless Steel?

Hello All! I'm going to attempt a vegetarian Mark Bittman Paella recipe (caramelized tomatoes). I was wondering if I should use my Cast Iron Skillet]( or my [Stainless Steel Skillet. I know you should use a traditional Paella pan, but this is what I have to work with. In case anyone is wondering the recipe calls to cook it on the stove top, transfer to an oven, then put it back on the burner in the end to form the bottom crust.

Hey Reddit, put your friend's face on a cheesy romance novel cover!

My colleagues put together this great site in time for Valentine's day... put your friends' face on a romance novel cover; no Photoshopping required! Here is an example of what you can make with it:

Overhaul the containers library

The containers library is a bit of a mess. The APIs are inconsistent, there are no benchmarks and the test coverage could be better. Overhaul the containers library, possibly using associated data types for better performance. Also investigate if there are any common type classes that should be exposed.

Can knowledge exist only within a context?

I have come across some ideas which claim that absolute truths, such as the Pythagorean theorem or Plato's eternal forms (if there is such a thing) exist not dependent on context. I am not convinced, as intuitively I think that all knowledge is an organization or integration of interconnected elements, and there is no form of knowledge which exists as an independent piece, not dependent on anything else. I hope this makes sense. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Best video card for Battlefield Bad Company 2 that's under 125?

I am out of the loop on video cards. I have 2 8800 GT's and they will not run together (it crashes), so I want to get a new video card that will run BC2 at the highest possible level but I am limited on cash, does anyone have a recommendation for me? Preferably one someone has tried out and is impressed with for under $125 US?

IAMA Request: S2 Games (Heroes of Newerth)

Requesting an IAMA from someone who works for S2 games on the Heroes of Newerth franchise. Edit: **Request Granted!** By Request: I am a Dev for Heroes of Newerth. AMA.

What happens to your sex life when you're pregnant?

My boyfriend and I found out about 2 months ago that I'm pregnant. We've been together for about a year and a half and have always had an amazing and very active sex life (we have sex at least 2x a day, if not more). Now that I'm 14 weeks pregnant and starting to show, I'm starting to get nervous he's going to start finding my new, bigger body unattractive. We still have plenty of sex and he tells me all the time how turned on he is by me, but I can't help but feel like as time goes on, and my belly gets bigger he's not going to find me as attractive. Has anyone had any experience with this? Do boyfriends/husbands tend to lose interest in sex, once you start to really show? Thanks so much for all your comments!! You've made me feel a lot better :-)

RMAG February Update -- Lots of progress!

There has been a lot going on behind the scenes, so I thought I'd recap where we're at to get everyone on the same page. The engine team, headed by Chrisf and Svenstaro, hosted a few gloriously productive hacking sessions using Gobby. The result was the foundation of **BaconEngine**. Though written in C++, it communicates with a Python instance for scriptability. Python will also be used for portions of the engine, so get in touch with your fearless leaders (IRC is a good bet) if you think you can help. Charlieb started working on the **skeletal animation system** that the engine will use, inspired by Aquaria. It uses Python and Pygame. While not yet integrated into the main code base, you can find it here. On the toolchain front, Svenstaro created an **Arch Linux VM** that has all Machine dependencies, as well as the code, preinstalled. You can bittorrent it from here. There has been push to centralize the scattered RMAG infrastructure into a **Redmine installation**, lovingly administered by RobotCaleb. There, you'll find the wiki and forums which will subsume the Wikidot wiki and Google Group. You can visit redditmakesagame.org to find links to our Redmine and other resources. I'm less familiar with the happenings on the art and design front, but there appear to be **no shortage of concept drawings, music submissions, and level ideas**. Jean Eric and Stiev Sigma are your art leads, Faet and Trentish are on top of design. Remember to link your submissions on the wiki so they're easy to find later! AFAIK, that sums it up. Now quit lurking and go barrage our leads with nooby questions and unrefined ideas :) Thanks for sticking around!

Really bizarre religious incident yesterday...

I was eating lunch and a guy approached the people sitting next to me to ask if he could say a prayer for the guy's broken arm. The guy with the broken arm said, "sure" (looking weirded out), and the first guy closed his eyes and touched the guy's arm while praying. When he was done, he asked the guy with the broken arm if he had "felt anything" like "spiritual energy" passing through him during the prayer. I was so annoyed at this borderline mentally retarded display that I suggested casting a spell next because it would be equally effective. The prayer healer idiot looked annoyed. Can anyone believe this kind of hocus pocus shit is happening in the US? It blew my mind.

Ten Key Principles in Economics

Everything has a cost. There is no free lunch. There is always a trade-off. Cost is what you give up to get something. In particular, opportunity cost is cost of the tradeoff. One More. Rational people make decisions on the basis of the cost of one more unit (of consumption, of investment, of labor hour, etc.). iNcentives work. People respond to incentives. Open for trade. Trade can make all parties better off. Markets Rock! Usually, markets are the best way to allocate scarce resources between producers and consumers. Intervention in free markets is sometimes needed. (But watch out for the law of unintended effects!) Concentrate on productivity. A country’s standard of living depends on how productive its economy is. Sloshing in money leads to higher prices. Inflation is caused by excessive money supply. !! Caution: In the short run, falling prices may lead to unemployment, and rising employment may lead to inflation. Credit:

Just watched Mulholland Dr.

Spoilers... kind of, I think... I thought it was great, but I'm also at a bit of a loss as to what happened exactly. I get the impression that the first half is sort of an idealized dream going on in Betty/Diane's head, and the second half is more the harsh reality. I was wondering what others thoughts of it and what happened were though, so please share them. I did think some of the performances and dialog were a bit forced, but it only seemed that way during the first half, so it may have been intentional, or I just got used to it. Also, the visual's were really outstanding. Lynch has an incredible sense of color, and I absolutely love some of the angles he uses, especially on his closeups. Excellent use of music, as well. This film *needs* to come out of Blu-Ray. Again, great film, and I got to see everything.

Shreddit: Saw Between the Buried and Me in Philly last night...

One of my favorite bands of all time. They always have and continue to play amazingly tight live. So I now pose this question to you Shreddit: What other bands do you think play tight and put on a great show live?

DAE rest their left hand on WASD even when they're not playing an FPS?

Summers of Counter Strike in youth, have ingrained an involuntary impulse in my brain to idly rest my left fingers on the W, A, S, & D keys (standard FPS movement controls), pretty much at any time that I'm not typing something. Anyone else?

What word do you hate or have trouble writing by hand?

For me, it's 'the', I always take the right side of the h and go straight into the e rather than bringing it down to the line. it looks like tte most of the time.

"Green cleaning products" - is it the same old stuff in new packaging or is there really something to it?

I've recently started purchasing "green cleaning products" instead of the regular "non-green" ones. The brand most readily available is the Green Works line from Clorox - They are no more expensive than the "non-green" versions and they seem to do a great job. Are they really better for the environment or am I falling for marketing hype? TIA for any insight.

REMINDER: Upload your finished tracks to Radio Reddit. We need more hiphop and jazz!

After you polish up and finish your tracks using the constructive criticism offered here in WATMM, remember to have it broadcast on Radio Reddit. Upload at Also, we have moved from random all the time, to a schedule of genres: As we receive more music from sub genres, we'll divide the schedule up even more. We desperately need more traditional hiphop (with words not just electronic music) and jazz.

Impressions with T-Mobile voice and data service

I am considering making the move over from AT&T (which has left a lot to be desired) to T-Mobile in order to upgrade my data phone to a Nexus One. Besides the issues with Nexus One 3G connectivity (which I believe Google/T-Mobile have a fix for), what is everyone's impression of the voice and data service on T-Mobile? Is it consistent? Good/Bad? Comments are appreciated. Thank You.

Any brewitors in southern California?

Well, I'm fermenting my first batch and I was wondering if anyone lived close that I could give few bottles of the beer to tell me what they think. Once I improve we could regularly exchange the fruits of our labor, what do you think?

I am solo for 22 years and counting. I want to change that.

I need some advice. I'm a 22 year old male that never had a girlfriend. That, of course, includes no sex but also no kissing, no holding hands, nothing. Although I make fun of it most of the time, it really is bothering me lately (as in last few years). I would even go as far as saying it's not about being a virign and having sex but I want a soulmate, a partner. I want someone to cuddle in the evening. I can't say for sure but I think being lonely all the time severly impacts my life. It just feels like I can't go on with it (as in, I don't know, grow up, behave like a man) as long as this elemental part is missing. I'm stuck in my usual routine, do stupid things on weekends, struggle with when I sleep or get up, don't really have motivation for university etc. My morale isn't really high and I'm rather chaotic. I always try to analyze my situation, where does this come from and I'm pretty sure I know. I was born cross-eyed (like really cross-eyed). Had a surgery when I was small with little effect. This lead to me being cross-eyed for my whole life up to the age of 20, where I had another surgery with way better results. It isn't perfect, but more on this later. Being cross-eyed made me become a stupid computer nerd. It's not like I didn't have friends or did stuff outside (I did skateboarding for example, so I might count as cool back then) but in the end, I spent my whole teenage life doing anything but hitting on girls. When I turned 18, I started going to clubs and get drunk and the usual stuff, but still, no real attempts at getting to know girls. It feels like the 20 years really have scarred me. I've no idea wether I'm attractive or not (friends tell me I'm alright but they're friends, what else are the supposed to say). I'm not really tall (Warning: Metric unit ahead: 1.75m) and really skinny. So I'm not really manly. Being skinny seems to be a result of my stupid metabolism. I myself would be the tall strong manly man but I'm quite the opposite. Now that my eyes are rather fixed, I thought I might change and eventually become the person I alaways wanted to be, but it just won't work. I think I have a rather low self-esteem and talking to strangers is hard for me. Eye contact seems to be the key in approaching girls, and I just can't do it. Not just with girls but all strangers basically. The standard trick for this kind of problems (I'm very shy) is getting boozed up. And in fact, about every weekend I'm drunk beyond good and evil. And still, there's not a single moment between sober and passing-out-drunk where I'd have the courage to talk to girls, I just can't do it. Regarding the partying: I guess this is where everyone else gets to know girls, but I don't. Even when I see someone attractive my stupid brain starts working and goes like "What to say?", "Is this going to be a one-night stand? You have no experience", "What will be the result? What if she tries to kiss you if you talk to her, you have no clue about it" and stuff like that. Plus, I yet have to experience the feeling of girls being attracted to me. Friends sometime tell me some girl might like me but I don't believe them, I didn't register it myself. A bit more about me: I'm anything but the boring shy-in-the-corner guy. As I said, I go out every weekend, get drunk, dance like a maniac. I am a DJ myself, which should give me some coolness points. I dress decently and I don't smell or anything like that. My outward appearance is important to me. So to come to an end on this post: I think it's all about my insecurity and I have no idea what to do. Even being drunk doesn't help me. Any tips on how to handle this? Should I get professional help (I considered it)? How to improve my self-esteem? How to find a girlfriend?

Is it just me or do other Apple fans think that the iTunes store is a horrible way to distribute applications?

I can see the idea of a music store in a music application. This makes sense. I can see the idea of synchronizing your portable music device with a music application. But then the iPhone and iPod touch came along, and apps arrived at the iTunes store. That put non-music-related apps in the iTunes store. The interface for installing these applications undoubtedly bloats iTunes. You have a music player now that becomes your software for interfacing all mobile devices? That's just sloppy design. It breaks the Unix-y idea of one executable, one function entirely. It also closes down Apple mobile devices to open software distribution, as we well know but rejected applications. As a huge Mac fan, this is really concerning me about Apple's future. Does this concern you guys? Linux based operating systems are getting better, and I'm only able to use Macs because of their BSD-origins & MacPorts. If Apple pushes towards closed systems more, I'll have no choice but to switch. Apple's enjoyed a large amount of growth recently, and I am very concerned they are leaving their ideals behind to win the market share game.

What kind of socks do you wear? low cut, crew, or ankle?

Ive been wearing ankle/no show socks for the last 10 years of my life and i find it incredibly uncomfortable to wear anything but those. what kind of socks do you wear?

Dear Reddit, Need Help! (Seattle)

Dear Reddit, I was in charge of performances for the Japanese Student Association, Matsuri Festival. Our Matsuri festival is on February 27th, 2010 at the University of Washington from 5 PM until 9 PM. Due to the inner workings at University of Washington (where our president gets paid nearly a million dollars), and the tuition hikes (14% this year, and 16% increase next year... 30% in 2 years) and the lack of funding for student organizations. I'm in an **extreme** pinch. We didn't have as much money as we thought we would have for our Matsuri festival. The cost of renting the room increased, the amount of food we need increased and everything. We simply are unable to pay honorarium/performance fees. My budget shrank considerably down to $500. I needed at least $1,500. My budget is barely enough to get two decent performers. We need a total of 8-9. I really want to present an authentic, and good performances so people can really get a sense of Japan through it, and get a new experience. If you're talented, or know someone who is talented and can do something related to Japan for free please PM me! -- ABOUT MATSURI -- It's a festival we hold annually. This is the 4th annual Matsuri festival. It's centered around introducing Japanese culture to the local community, university students, people interested in Japan or people who just want to have an interesting experience. We usually get around 2,000+ people comprising of kids, parents, high school kids and university students, We present Japanese culture through performances, games, food and other forms of entertainment. Also, the entrance is free, because we want to make this accessible to anyone and everyone. However, food costs tickets ($1 = 2 tickets, and food is around 2-8 tickets). [if you could please upvote this so it can reach out to people that would be awesome]! here are some pictures of Matsuri from last year here's a video of a Taiko performance from last year~ [edit] I maybe should have made it clearer - I'm not asking for donations. I'm asking for the above: If you're talented, or know someone who is talented and can do something related to Japan for free please PM me!

Can you have an encrypted message that decrypts into two different messages based on the key?

Suppose you wanted to pretend to someone (that was ignorant of cryptography) that you had psychic powers or some shit like that (I don't, but just as a thought experiment). You tell them you know who will win the Superbowl and give them a string of text and say you encrypted it. Following the Superbowl you will give them the decryption key and they can see your original prediction and know you were right. Now, you have two decryption keys, one will decrypt the message one way, and the other, the other way. I was reading that a message encrypted with a one-time pad couldn't be broken because, since the key is the same length as the message, it could be anything. So could you have two messages and two different one-time pad encryption keys that both translate into the same encrypted message? I don't care if anyone says *how* it's done because I don't plan to do anything with this info, it's just curiosity. I've seen people on the web providing encrypted info with the promise of a decryption key later, using it as a time-stamp, basically, and I was wondering how secure that really was.

If Internet Explorer is so terrible & most companies use Outlook as a mail client, why is it that a functional version of Outlook hasn't yet been made for Firefox & other browsers.

Better yet, why aren't companies requesting Outlook to be compatible with Firefox, Chrome etc? I want to be able to mark a message as unread or be able to get a global view of my folders or even be able to write emails with HTML from home!!!

Large capacity flash drive (16-32GB)

That is all. The alien is cute, and I have a couple, but it would be nice if it were actually useful.

I was just wondering what your thoughts are on Herschel Walker's exercise routine.

This guy is 47 years-old, retired from the NFL 13 years ago and has decided to be an MMA fighter. He says he's never lifted any weights and his exercise routine is simply to do 2,500 sit ups and 1,500 push ups everyday. Apparently, he's done that since high school.

TIL that all 493 Pokémon are unavailable as login names on Gmail/Google

I think this is pretty funny. Not counting the ones less than six characters, the other 454 Pokémon are taken. Well, that's a bit misleading because I've only tested ~380 so far (random order). I'm betting a single person must have mass-registered most of them. I'd be interested to hear if anyone on reddit owns one (you don't have to say which one). Edit: I finished trying them all, and none are available as I expected.

DAE have that funny feeling in fingers when someone else showing you how to do your job?

Every time someone shows what and how to do (especially when I never done that) I have funny feeling in hand fingers.

What's the worst financial or investment move you've made?

I'll start off: I bought several stocks, one of which was a pink slip company. It went up to over 5x the price I bought it at and instead of selling I held on to it hoping it would go higher. It went back down to the original price, I bought more. Now it is less than 1/5 of the price I bought it at.

Dear Reddit: Why all the downvotes?

Edit: I don't know why I'm getting downvoted; I'm making so much sense.

Marijuana Super Store - "The Grow Squad" (think Geek Squad) CNN video report

Pretty sweet haha. This emerging industry is interesting, too bad its not legal cause it would grow a lot more ...anyways here is the video

Looking for Python, Java, C# developers in Boston area to work with on small projects

I've been working with all sorts of far away people in delivering software products and business application development over the past year and I would love to know some local Python/Java/C# hackers that I can call to help on projects. Craigslist is a huge fail - 90% of the responses are offshore guys that I don't get warm and fuzzies from... how do I connect with local dev talent? My office is at the Kendal stop on the red line.

Have a television show I want to pitch, how do I go about this?

I have, at least in my opinion, a great show the History Channel would like. I have no idea how to pitch a show, any suggestions?

I am having trouble patching WoW, any ideas?

Hi all, I played WoW up until the most recent expansion when I canceled my acct. and quit for a while. When I saw that Reddit had a guild I immediately decided to give it a try again. When I go to download the game it gets through 85% of the newest patch and gives me this error: The patch "base\world\maps\Kalimdor\Kalimdor_35_33.adt" could not be applied. (CRC mismatch: expected 0x6a8031d0, actual 0x4e4aa9e9.) If this problem persists, you may be able to solve it by uninstalling and then reinstalling the game. If you are unable to correct this problem, please contact Blizzard Technical Support. (BNUpdate::PTCApply) To check this installation for problems, click the "Repair" button. The Repair tool can automatically fix many update errors. Repair does nothing, Reinstalling does nothing, and I have no idea how to fix this problem. Some more info: I have a Dell xps 720 running Windows 7 64bit. I have never had WoW on this comp, when I played before it was on my laptop. If anyone can help me I'd be very grateful!

Mobile version of IETester?

Anyone know if there is any kind of IETester for mobile devices? How are you all testing your sites/apps on various mobile devices?

Dear reddit.wow, what is the fairest looting/DKP system of them all?

For a serious (though not necessarily "hardcore") raiding guild, what's the fairest system for distributing those epics? I'm currently thinking fixed price DKP of some sort, but don't have much experience with these things so would like any thoughts/input :) Thanks! (Awaits requests for clarification of "fair"... ;)