Trolling for things to be angry at? Just makes you another asshat...

Thanks for straightening me out by answering my question with a snarky bitch-slap rather than a patient and thoughtful clarification, FFS. Though I'm sure it won't change your self-righteous indignation any, I did RTFM before I posted and it frankly wasn't that clear to me so, yeah thanks for the insight.

It's asshats like you that have caused me to spend less and less time on /. these days.

Does "prior art" even matter anymore?

I thought that America Invents changed the game from "first to think of it" to "first to file for it"?? If that's true then prior art doesn't mean squat anymore. Which, now that I think about it, would create a rather chilling effect on the idea of even discussing a new idea with ANY one for fear that the person you talked to might beat you to the patent office even though it was truly your idea in the first place. Not sure I see how that change would make anything better for actual inventors, though it certainly would cut the patent office workload...

Not just in Florida. The popular trick here in the midwest is to put up the signs right before the entrance to a Rest Area. The druggies think they're being clever by pulling off at the Rest Area right away so they can throw away the evidence and "clean up" their act. But of course the rest area is where the cops really are, watching for that very activity...

Hermmm... wasn't Chatroulette supposed to fix that for us...??

I have a desktop at home, a laptop for mobility and general use around-the-house plus a netbook on my nightstand. I browse on all three of them and syncing bookmarks has been a godsend to me. For example, I browse music download sites on all three but I only actually download on the desktop. For that usage alone it's worth it, but that's not the only scenario for me.

I wouldn't call my situation "peculiar" by any means and it certainly wouldn't need 10 OS's and 40 or more browsers to justify using a bookmark syncer. Any quantity of browser > 1 is reason enough for me!

I'm sure he's referring only to the name change from Weave to Sync, which happened 'not that long ago' (earlier this summer). Weave itself has been around at least as long as you remember, of course.

+1

And let's add redneck pick-up truck drivers to the list as well. Anyone who plasters a decal of Calvin pissing on their favorite thing to hate should be charged with urinating in public. Seriously.

They seem to advertise the belief that they think it's funny to piss on things you don't like, but I can just imagine what their humorless reaction would be if I pissed on their g*damn truck decal...

Just to be clear, there is no such thing as a "brake/steering" fluid system in your car. It's either brake fluid or steering fluid - these are two separate systems with separate reservoirs and separate fluids.

From what you describe, the mechanic fixed your problem by topping off your steering fluid. He may have checked the brake fluid as well - and even topped it off - but that would have been uninvolved in solving your original problem.

In any event, it does nothing to lessen the gross incompetence of the original mechanic. {shudder}

I lost mine in WW2, you insensitive clods!

No wait... you said shims?!?!

Nevermind.

I would love to give Majel Roddenberry in my car.

I can go you one better - I once held her in my arms...

I was working as a PA for a movie called Mommy. Majel played the role of Mrs. Withers, a schoolteacher who gets killed by the movie's lead villainess.

In her final scene, Mrs. Withers is hanging up decorations after hours in her classroom when she is confronted by the murderous lead character. After a brief argument with her would-be killer, Majel's character climbs back up a stepladder to resume her decorating and the murderess does the dirty deed by pushing Majel off the stepladder, causing her to fall to the floor where she presumably dies from a fractured skull.

The scene called for an upper torso shot of Majel falling backwards off the ladder. Since we're talking "B" movie here and the budget did not include an airbag for her to fall onto, the director had me and three other PA's stand next to the ladder with our arms linked together so as to catch her. She literally fell into my arms - not once but several times before the final take. Absolute highlight of my life! What really impressed me, though, was how trusting she was and - to echo what many other posters have already said - how joyful she was as a person.

One other story about Majel's final scene in the movie - her very last camera shot was from above, looking down on the fallen Mrs. Withers as she lay dying on the classroom floor. The director told Majel to ham it up a bit for her death scene so the editor would have some extra footage to work with for the final cut, so there she laid on the floor - eyes closed, a pained expression on her face, rolling her head to and fro and moaning...

(i'm just gonna let that image sink in for a moment or two)

... it was a hypnotic moment, the entire crew was transfixed and except for Majel the room was absolutely quiet. And at some point it sunk in with me that the scene had been going on for a lot longer than was probably necessary and that the director wasn't saying "cut". It must have occurred to Majel as well because she suddenly stopped, raised her head and looked over at the director as if to ask whether it was enough footage. But before she could speak - out of the deafening silence of that moment - a small desperate voice in the back of the room cried out "Marry me, Majel!!".

If you ever get a chance to see the actual movie, keep that story in mind as you watch Mrs. Withers' final on-screen moments.

Since the NIH is a government agency, why not just screw the publisher and demand the information under the Freedom of Information Act? (yes, USA only I know) I'm sure there would be a fee under the FOIA but it could be a whole lot less than paying a publisher, who would get squat out of the arrangement.

Maybe that's a bit far-fetched but even if everyone just did that for a while as a form of protest it might get the point across to the folks on Capitol Hill.