I always wonder what people talk about incessantly on their cellphones.

Around here it's either people talking rapidly in some asian language (Cantonese, Tagalog, Vietnamese), or a zero content conversation along the lines of "uh huh...yeah...no...on the bus...later...no...uh huh...yeah...OK..." I have better things to do with my life.

I was amused at the mention in the article about landing being the phase of flight where the plane impacts the ground. I found this one of the hardest things about learning to fly, getting over the phobia of the plane hitting the ground. In the case of landing, that's exactly what it's supposed to do.

...laura

They should be teaching students to be skeptical. To examine the evidence, to test its validity, to see how the conclusions were arrrived at. This is A Good Thing.

What they really want to do, of course, is place evolution on the same footing as "In the beginning..." If students were genuinely skeptical they would quickly see what makes sense and what is religious nonsense.

...laura

I've been largely cashless since the late 1980s.

I keep a few dollars in my purse for incidentals, but pay for almost everything else with my debit card. I pay all my bills on line. When I travel outside of Canada I use credit cards. The last time I used traveller's cheques was in 1986. I write one cheque a month, for my rent. The building managers would like to go electronic (they don't accept cash), but haven't come up with a good way to do so.

Cybercrime? My debit card has never been compromised, but I've had a couple of credit card incidents. One time I was wondering when my new Amex was going to arrive, and I got a phone call from their security department. Somebody had intercepted my new card and gone on a shopping spree. My bill came in a box that month. My liability was zero, since (unlike most other cards), American Express cards say "Not Transferable" on them, and if a merchant doesn't verify the identity of a man presenting a card that says "Laura" on it, that's their problem.

...laura

The excessively loud tracks remind of the old Wall of Sound production. LPs and AM radio had lousy dynamic range, so they blasted you. CDs have excellent dynamic range, WoS sounded awful, and the most effective CD recordings were the raw, almost live-sounding recordings.

Now with MP3 and loudness wars, we're back to WoS. I didn't like it then. I don't like it now. ...laura

What problem are they attempting to solve?

The whole idea of having traceable pieces of paper, physical manifestations of the intentions of actual voters, has served us well. Anybody can see it. Anybody can understand how it works. Anybody can observe the process in action. These are good things.

The only issue I have is proportional representation, or the lack thereof. We've had a couple of referenda on the subject here in B.C., both of which have been defeated by massive FUD campaigns.

...laura

I've seen this one up close. Over the last couple of years I've lost a lot of weight, 150 pounds. Nothing fancy, just counting calories and exercising. It's done wonders for my physical and mental health, and has attracted a lot of attention. People stop me in the hallways, in the elevators, hell, even in the street.

"How much weight have you lost?"

"How did you do it?"

"You look amazing!"

If losing this much weight means I look amazing, I attract attention, people like me, maybe if I lose some more, I'll look even more amazing. And attract more attention, and people will like me even more. There's the slippery slope. I've resisted it, partly because I'm not so emotionally fucked up as to crave that sort of attention, and partly because excessively thin middle-aged women get a certain "hard" look that I dont like, and don't want for myself. I'm not toothpick skinny, but am slim and nicely curvy. I'm a woman, dammit, not a stick insect. I like it.

As for photoshopped/anorexic models, I shop at places that use reasonable looking models (and carry clothes in reasonable sizes), and ignore the places that don't. If more people did so, things would change. The dollar is mightier than the sword.

...laura

Actually, this is the algorithm I use. The next time it will be wrong is in 2100, and I don't expect to still be around, nor do I expect any code I've written to still be running.

I also see nothing complicated with elementary school arithmetic, but I guess that's just me.

...laura

I respect Minix for its attempt at doing something different from the monolithic OSs we almost invariably use.

Linux and its ilk are very powerful, but they're not the only way to solve problems. Keep up the good work!

...laura

North Korea's exports the most to China and imports the most from China and Algeria, according to the CIA World Factbook.

In Canada we ditched $1000 bills years ago, since the authorities figured the only people who would need that much cash are up to no good. The biggest cash purchase I've ever made (about $1500) was with a wad of $100 bills.

...laura

Of course. :-)

Today I'm wearing my don't fuck with me boots. The antithesis of come fuck me pumps...

...laura

I have several honeypot email accounts, and one kept getting emails that suggested it was somehow a member of a French on-line dating/introduction service.

The web site had no way to delete one's account, nor did the proprietors respond to emails.

My solution? I logged in and updated "my" personal information. I got nasty, every bit of the sickest crap I could think of.

They pulled my account within the hour. :-)

...laura

When I studied some Russian as an undergrad I was intrigued by the way that Russian applies the perfect/imperfect concept to the future, as well as to the past. How does this affect Russians and how they view the future?

I'm also reminded of how important the subjunctive mood is in Spanish. Not that it affects perceptions of the future (mañana, anybody?), but the whole cultural thing that even when you actually say "This is so...", the implication is more like "God willing that it be so..."

...laura

I've always felt that the biggest issue for space exploration was when a certain U.S. president changed the requirements. It wasn't enough to send people to the Moon. People were already working on that. It had to be done before 31 December 1969. This made some approaches more viable than others. As a hurry-up job they didn't care about the post-Apollo future. Get them to the Moon, get them back, by the end of the decade. Only one way would work in the time available, a man in a can. And that's the way they did it. With more time they would have done it differently. Part of a system, a unified plan.

It's sort of what you might get if, for example, in 1935 somebody had said "we need an airplane that can carry 400 people, and we need it now". The resulting airplane might have resembled the Spruce Goose, a brilliant, but sterile, achievement. They would not have designed a 747, because too much development needed to happen first.

...laura

We all know the drill by now.

The government will listen intently to everybody, then do exactly what Big Copyright told them to do.

...laura

I've listened to a couple of leap seconds on WWV. I've recorded them too. I think I need to get out more. They sound like tick...tick...tick...(silence 23:59:59)...(silence 23:59:60)...BEEP (00:00:00)...tick...tick...tick...

...laura