Thank you for the apathy. I'm sure that will do a lot to improve things. In fact, everything will just get better if we stop hearing about government abuses at all. Brilliant plan.

You're indulging in some 20/20 hindsight here. At the time Windows 95 was released, the only media that supported autorun.inf on insertion was CD-ROMs

I don't think it would have taken any hindsight at all -- floppy based viruses predated CD-ROMs by a long time. If a virus could spread by floppy, why not a CDR?

Fiberglass reinforced plastic hulls, the most ubiquitous type, commonly experience what are called blisters. Even the epoxies (the plastic part) are not totally impervious to salt water and over the years, it seeps in and can cause a chemical reaction -- this expands and leaves a blister. Examples: https://www.google.com/images?q=fiberglass+blisters

You have to grind them away, fill with new epoxy, fair your work, and then you can put on new bottom paint. Every aspect is toxic.

Other kinds of plastic degrade as well. For example, it only takes a couple years for 5 gal plastic pail to become brittle -- I had to replace a couple this year that had only seen three seasons holding shrimp and crabs because the rims shattered just with light handling.

It really doesn't matter what you put in or near sea water -- it will destroy it. Which makes this Roman Concrete pretty astounding.

I got my first boat a few years ago, and to prevent myself from having an expensive albatross I couldn't sell in the event I didn't end up really using the boat, I bought an old cheap boat. I figured I could sink it and not cry, so if I hated having it, no big deal, no loan -- just pull it out of the marina and give it away on craigslist.

Turns out I love having a boat, but for my next one, I'm going to hire someone to do the blisters. I fixed about 150 or so on this boat --- what a nasty horrible toxic job. Never again!

Also, my next boat will have no teak on the outside, or if there is some, I'll sand off the varnish and let it weather. Boats with lots of varnished teak are beautiful, and I love looking at exterior teak on *other* people's boats. Learned that lesson too.

in support of apathy and of also being able to see the link without having to mouse over it, so in support of laziness as well:

<WTF> never saw that lameness filter before ("that's an awfully long string of characters ...")</WTF>

damn, I can't just paste it in, but go ahead and mouse over this if you have the energy or inclination.

There is a missing "n" in that sentence, but man, it sure does make it amusing. For once I'm glad I can't edit it.

Time to find a rational girlfriend.

Fact is, women check out men, men check out women, women check out women, men check out me. Those who are able to understand that are worth spending time with -- those that aren't are crazy (men or women) and the sooner you're away, the better your whole life will be.

And don't forget the grocers' apostrophe I added to "factory assembler's" ... this is Slashdot, not Utne Reader ... but I still hate it when I do that stuff.

In support of rampant prudishness, stock up now:
http://www.agriculturesolutions.com/products/agricultural-fabrics/natural-burlap-rolls/bulk-burlap-7oz-untreated-biodegradable-brown-3-x-750-detail?gclid=CIu60Z_f5rcCFa9cQgodkVEAyw

oops, wrong paste: http://www.jokeroo.com/pictures/funny/funny-looking-hotdog-stand.html

Slow down cowboy, 1 minute since last post ...

Seems to work for this stand:
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2216/1/

Anyone with a boat kept in saltwater can attest to the fact that stainless rusts, and rather quickly. Saltwater is hard on everything except the things evolved to live in it.

Not to mention that all kinds of people sell their bodies. Carpenters sell they're spines, factory assembler's their carpal tunnels, firefighters their lungs. We just happen to live in a prudish society that demeans renting out one's sexual bits, even though it is probably easier to keep them from getting damaged than it is to prevent the other types of physical problems people accept money for on a daily basis.

In protest of rapant neo-puritanism: E13 2013 Booth Babe Pics

When a book is read by a good reader, they're awesome. Don't underestimate the importance of the reader -- a bad reader will make any book no matter how good, awful. Good narration is as much an art as writing, or at least I've come to think so.

I love listening to books while I drive -- I had a job 10 years ago that often had me driving to different places for 3-4 hours at a time. Nowadays though, my work commute is short, and I find myself sometimes just driving around the county aimlessly. At 2 gal/hr, that makes it kind of expensive sometimes. My problem is that if I'm not actually doing something, listening to books makes me fall asleep very fast, no matter how much I like them, although that has advantages when I do need to fall asleep right away. Any kind of activity that doesn't trigger the verbal part of my brain is great though, and I've recently started making much hated chores something I look forward to, e.g., I recently spent an evening ironing all the shirts I don't take to the cleaners so I could keep listening to a book without nodding off.