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Comment Re:Prepaid cellular (Score 1) 530

Hear, hear. I was with VM between '06 and '11, and I'd be happily still with 'em if my office hadn't given me an iPhone to which I forward my google-voice-ported personal number.

Their phones are a generation or two behind the new hotness but if it's $$ from my own pocket, they were more than adequate (especially when grandfathered into their $25/mo voice-and-data plan).

Comment From a seat in the back row of the stage (Score 1) 334

My performance vs. passive attendance ratio at concerts is probably around 3:1. As long as the opportunity exists, I'd much rather contribute to the performance -- to interpret every nuance from the conductor, to operate the instrument such that it's an extension of my lungs and limbs, to remain blissfully unaware of the old lady unwrapping her candy and the tween texting his buddies out in the audience.

Comment At the local lovingly-restored Art Deco theatre. (Score 3, Interesting) 409

I chose "At the Theatre," but it's gotta be one theatre in particular. It's generally devoid of cell phones, rowdy teenagers, stadium seating, and 3D films. My father grew up half a mile away from it. It's just around the corner from my office and a block up from Discovery headquarters. Someday, I'd like to own a home within walking distance. I'm talking about the AFI Silver, and if you're in the DC area you owe it to yourself to pay them a visit and remember what movie-watching should be.
Politics

Scientists Say People Aren't Smart Enough For Democracy To Flourish 1276

cold fjord writes "The inability of the incompetent to recognize their own limitations is a story that has been covered before on Slashdot. But, what happens when you apply that finding to politics? From the article: 'The democratic process relies on the assumption that citizens can recognize the best political candidate, or best policy idea. But a growing body of research has revealed an unfortunate aspect of the human psyche that would seem to disprove this notion, and imply instead that democratic elections produce mediocre leadership and policies. The research shows that incompetent people are inherently unable to judge the competence of other people, or the quality of those people's ideas. If people lack expertise on tax reform, it is very difficult for them to identify the candidates who are actual experts. They simply lack the mental tools needed to make meaningful judgments...democracies rarely or never elect the best leaders. Their advantage over dictatorships or other forms of government is merely that they "effectively prevent lower-than-average candidates from becoming leaders."'"

Comment Possibly more than my wife. (Score 1) 502

Weekends and yardwork: Heavy winter boots, hiking boots, running shoes, faux-Converse in black and another pair in brown. Soon to acquire some work boots.
Dress (balmoral, leather sole): Black leather dress shoes (cap toe). Brown leather dress shoes (perf cap toe).
Workday (derby, rubber sole): Brown leather dress boots (perf cap toe). Brown leather (plain toe). Soon to acquire a pair of black leather dress boots.
Specialty: sandals, climbing shoes, MTB shoes, crocs.

That's thirteen and I still don't feel like all my bases are covered -- I'd like a nice pair of black patent balmorals for the dozen times a year I've got to be in a tuxedo.

I'm backwardly fortunate that my feet are obscenely long and narrow. It's easier to justify not buying shoes when they simply don't exist in US 14AA.

Comment "Lost an eye," indeed (Score 4, Interesting) 404

My wife was born without a pupil in her right eye; she had at least one surgery a year at the Wilmer Institute until she was in her teens to try to fix it, and then they gave up. She now wears a nonfunctional prosthetic cap that looks perfectly normal unless you get to within an inch or two and notice it doesn't refract light in quite the same way that her left eye does.

Monocular vision does not lend itself to experiencing 3D on a 2D screen. We will never own a 3D TV. If the writing is ever on the wall and they're all that's left, we'll stop watching.

Comment Re:Design (Score 2) 144

I sure don't. My comment was just as much an excuse to post that video as to contribute relevant discourse. But I put in a number of years in the bicycle industry. The better component manufacturers also do things for the aerospace industry; conditions fluctuating between sea level and a few dozen thousand feet probably do a number on equipment as well. The stuff is also likely a mite simpler and easier to re-engineer (if necessary) than a gas analyzer shed.

Have a look at some of the photos that Hanebrink has posted. Seems to me like they know a thing or two about testing. It's in a wind tunnel, presumably a refrigerated one.

If I had to guess, I'd figure the trickiest bit would be coming up with chain lube and bearing grease that weren't completely useless... and replacing a broken chain while wearing heavily insulated gloves.

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