That's the impression I get also (not going to read the whole thing tonight--it's after 1AM here).

I used to drink them avidly, but gave up soft drinks on anything like a regular basis about 10 years ago, mostly in reaction to my dentist's lecture on what an effective combination sugar, carbonation, and the acids formed when they're no longer under pressure make for destroying tooth enamel--not to mention how much it was costing me to get my teeth fixed. I think I'm even more glad now that I did.

(I also recall reading somewhere that warm Coca-Cola is a very effective spermicide. Anybody know whether this is true?)

Or maybe you're right. '91 and '01 were both pretty traumatic years for me personally, and I still sometimes get memories of the two periods mixed up.

I seem to recall that it started after an "No Rock But Rock" ad campaign that got turned into "Butt Rock" by various wags because it was being used to push stuff like Nickelback and Seether. That was in '91, IIRC. "Glam" to me means New York Dolls, Roxy Music, and Bowie during his Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane period. KISS were also sort of glam. Not the same thing at all as Glam Metal/Hair Metal which is not the same thing at all as Butt-Rock.

Maybe it depends on who you talk to, or what part of the country you live(d) in.

Uh... what?

Admit it, Jane. You not only inhaled--you drank the bong water afterwards.

I'm not responsible for the Wikipedia article.

I'm not responsible for the fact that he was stupid enough to play with a gun while he was high.

I'm not responsible for the dog-crap his band started putting out after he offed himself.

But he was an excellent and innovative guitarist, composer, and bandleader who deserves heaps more recognition than he got.

I've long since outgrown idols. But I continue to admire him for his music.

Who cares what the man looked like? The point is to listen.

No, it was the 90s/early 00s. I quit listening to US FM radio when it was decided that Nickelback was worthy of airplay.

I left the country just a couple of years later. Coincidence? Perhaps not.

Bose headphones have always been overpriced, and don't hold up under heavy use.

In my experience, real professionals use Sennheiser. At least, when I worked in radio, about 80% of the DJs and engineers I knew used Sennheisers, and laughed at me when I asked whether Bose was really any good--"on TV, sure".

You can't ring POTS phones with it, so it's not a substitute. Please quit spamming.

Where I live, a "normal phone" is a smartphone.

Lots of smartphones support video calls. Both of mine do, at least. They're both off-the-shelf Samsung Galaxys--one's an S1 and the other's an S3.

Which reminds me, I'm about due to sign another 2-year contract with my telco so I can get a free S5 and catch up with my wife, who already has one. Which also supports video calling.

It's also hella cheaper to use Skype for this than to dial it directly, even for local video calls.

Good luck getting my mom to use it.

Shit, I've been trying for ten fucking years to get her to quit using HUGE BOLD HTML for her emails. I've explained to her over and over again that she can use plain text, set her mail client to display it at a size that's comfortable for her, and let me view it at a size that's reasonable for me. And failed. Too complicated/scary.

Now... You were saying...?

There are no gammas or neutrons because they're all converted to 220 VAC, just waiting to be drawn off.

That's 120 if you're in the Western Hemisphere, of course.

I'll only be 89 in 2050, so I hereby offer to be your second.

Do you even know what a vaccine does?

Saturday afternoon mini-matinee