Random Thoughts That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread Go Here

[JonInMiddleGA]

Good times: son just asked which Harry Turtledove novel in the bookcase he should try as an introduction. I went with "Guns of the South", figuring a stand alone book was a better start than any of the long series.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Good times: son just asked which Harry Turtledove novel in the bookcase he should try as an introduction. I went with "Guns of the South", figuring a stand alone book was a better start than any of the long series.

Thank you for that piece of knowledge. I was looking to read something by him and wasn't sure where to start because I'm looking for a one off and not something too long or involved.

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Thank you for that piece of knowledge. I was looking to read something by him and wasn't sure where to start because I'm looking for a one off and not something too long or involved.

Well he doesn't really do short very often, and this is relatively long (400+ pages of nearly mouse type in the paperback edition I've got).

Almost instantly I questioned my own recommendation, wondering if I should have gone with In the Presence of Mine Enemies instead. Germany wins WWII but years later a respected police officer has a deep dark secret. Guns is more Turtledove's style in terms of characters I think but Enemies is an easier introduction to alternate history in general.

For your purposes, I wonder if Departures might be a good fit. It's a collection of alt. history short stories that cover a lot of different eras & are early Turtledove but the style is clearly there.

[Lathum]

I don't, nor will I ever, get the fascination people have with the beach.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I don't, nor will I ever, get the fascination people have with the beach.

This. I'm totally not a beach person...although now that I'm not a fatass I can at least like...stand it.

Going to be in Santa Monica next weekend and don't even think I'll bring a bathing suit...

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I don't, nor will I ever, get the fascination people have with the beach.

Are we talking about swimming beach or "sitting in the sun being seen" beach?

SI

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

Is she at least hot?

Well, when the rumors supposedly were around..she was a 7. Now? Maybe a 5. Age isn't being kind...

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Are we talking about swimming beach or "sitting in the sun being seen" beach?

SI

yes

[Lathum]

dola- just to elaborate

There is just nothing appealing. Hot sand, salt water, tons of people, its hot as hell, you have to put on greasy sunscreen, there are birds everywhere, stepping on seaweed and shells, etc...

I mean, seriously, where is the enjoyment in all of that?

[Lathum]

double dola- I am not a fat ass, getting into a bathing suit is the most tolerable part of it.

[Senator]

WM3 released from prison tomorrow.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

This. I'm totally not a beach person...although now that I'm not a fatass I can at least like...stand it.

Going to be in Santa Monica next weekend and don't even think I'll bring a bathing suit...

Eat at Typhoon out at the Santa Monica airport...Asian Fusion...amazing food...one of the best places to eat in the area...

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Eat at Typhoon out at the Santa Monica airport...Asian Fusion...amazing food...one of the best places to eat in the area...

Thanks for the recommendation!

[Suicane75]

How can you not love the beach? It's like the worlds biggest swimming pool surrounded by games, rides and food. Plus it's like being in a giant club where all the women are already in their underwear.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Senator

WM3 released from prison tomorrow.

I bet Rick Perry would have had enough balls to execute them.

[RainMaker]

I like listening to Peter Cetera sometimes and I don't care how gay that may sound.

[stevew]

Been reading some funny stuff about Groupon.

Don't Mean To Be Alarmist, But Groupon Is Running Low On Cash

Anyways, seems as if they have a JB Magical type approach to their buisiness model.

[Izulde]

boobs nigga boobs i'm too lay to find drunk thread lol

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by Izulde

boobs nigga boobs i'm too lay to find drunk thread lol

Finally, someone on this board is making some sense. Also, when I read this, I distinctly heard it in the style of 'Rumpshaker'. "boobs nigga boobs and a boom boom (in the drunk thread)!" {sax riff}

[JonInMiddleGA]

Gotta bitch, after banging my head against a brick wall of stupidity at my son's school, the "business development" office of all places. (That qualifies as "random" for the purpose of this thread I believe)

Long story short, worked out something with one of my client's that got a nearly a dozen schools access to a piece of the client's marketing budget (as opposed to the charity/community budget), including my son's.

Instead of the usual tickets + print ads + sponsorship mentions on webcasts, we wanted (from a marketing standpoint) only the webcast spots. That's where there was some bang for the buck, which was the prerequisite for taking this budget away from traditional media. Our school's normal cost for webcast spots $350 higher than the sponsorship package that doesn't include it ($1,350 vs $1,000) My offer was $720 for just the webcast spots ... and these fucking idiots turned it down since they couldn't "deviate from the proscribed packages". There's literally hundreds of spots of unsold inventory that they waste each year (happy to sell it mind you but only as part of a "package" that hasn't been updated in nearly a decade).

Meanwhile, of the 10 (mostly public) schools we contacted offering new money:
2 had no problem, relatively easy transactions frankly
3 failed to return multiple phone calls, messages, over several months
1 had suspended their sponsorship program while reorganizing the boosters
3 had great conversations and repeatedly failed to follow up w/info, forms
and
1 was too damned dumb to take free money

In short, about $12k was earmarked & approved, we managed to spend less than $2,500 of it. In all the cases but the one I described, there was nothing new involved, we simply wanted to buy one of their existing packages (or get info about those, all of which have them).

What started out as a nice idea turned into one of the most frustrating professional experiences of my life.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I have no idea why, but I love pictures of stock traders that newspapers and websites use when talking about the stock market rising or falling. I am not sure what it is, but they always make me smile.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I have no idea why, but I love pictures of stock traders that newspapers and websites use when talking about the stock market rising or falling. I am not sure what it is, but they always make me smile.

For me, it's the headless fat people that are used in news broadcasts. Bonus if they're holding a hamburger or ice cream cone.

[stevew]

Woot....apparently the staff at my college are on strike.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Senator

WM3 released from prison tomorrow.

wasn't familiar with the case and read up on it a bit today. holy cow.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

Well, when the rumors supposedly were around..she was a 7. Now? Maybe a 5. Age isn't being kind...

Oh. Bummer. If she was a 9 or 10, I'd make peoples heads spin by just telling them it's none of their business.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I don't, nor will I ever, get the fascination people have with the beach.

I'm with you on this as well. There's zero (other than hot chicks in as skimpy of a bikini as legally possible) that is appealing about the beach. Way too crowded, traffic sucks, the people usually suck, it smells (I hate the smell of salt water), and I'm tired of that sheriff always yelling at people to get out of the water.

Now a lake, different story.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm tired of people trying to act like they're better than everyone else. Note to everyone: You're not better than I am. So you're not better than everyone else. You're probably not even better than my cousin Tanya. Learn your place.

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

I'm tired of people trying to act like they're better than everyone else. Note to everyone: You're not better than I am. So you're not better than everyone else. You're probably not even better than my cousin Tanya. Learn your place.

"Those of you who think you know everything are really starting to annoy those of us who do."

Saw that on a sticker in a teacher's lounge in high school and have loved it ever since.

[JeeberD]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I'm with you on this as well. There's zero (other than hot chicks in as skimpy of a bikini as legally possible) that is appealing about the beach. Way too crowded, traffic sucks, the people usually suck, it smells (I hate the smell of salt water), and I'm tired of that sheriff always yelling at people to get out of the water.

Now a lake, different story.

Lakes freak me the hell out. There are dead bodies in each and every one of them...

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Lakes freak me the hell out. There are dead bodies in each and every one of them...

I'd stay away from lakes that have names like Crystal or Wanawhupah or whatever they are called back east.

[JeeberD]

Shoot...I live just a few miles from a decent sized lake, and after every summer holiday there are news stories about someone who disappeared while swimming or boating and how they're having to bring in divers to search for them. I know they don't find them all...they're just down there, waiting for me.

[Ksyrup]

The recent stories about the brain-eating amoebas from warm rivers/lakes has freaked me out. Even if there's only been 36 known instances of it in the past 30 years.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

The recent stories about the brain-eating amoebas from warm rivers/lakes has freaked me out. Even if there's only been 36 known instances of it in the past 30 years.

It's the zombie plague, moving slowly....

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Lakes freak me the hell out. There are dead bodies in each and every one of them...

I wouldn't recommend the ocean either. Thousands of people there, restrooms rarely used.....

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by JeeberD

Shoot...I live just a few miles from a decent sized lake, and after every summer holiday there are news stories about someone who disappeared while swimming or boating and how they're having to bring in divers to search for them. I know they don't find them all...they're just down there, waiting for me.

What is that nibbling at your feet?

[gstelmack]

12 Things You Should Stop Buying Now | Moneyland | 9. Lottery Tickets | TIME.com

So my odds of dying by meteor strike are 1-in-700,000. So, of the, say, 300 million or so in this country, 428 of us will die from a meteor strike? Really?

Ah, a little research shows: Death by meteorite | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

And the 1-in-700,000 is based on the odds that some large strike will eventually kill a huge chunk of us at one time.

I hate statistics.

[DaddyTorgo]

I somehow managed to put my boxers on not only backwards this morning, but also inside-out.

Rare form.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

12 Things You Should Stop Buying Now | Moneyland | 9. Lottery Tickets | TIME.com

So my odds of dying by meteor strike are 1-in-700,000. So, of the, say, 300 million or so in this country, 428 of us will die from a meteor strike? Really?

Ah, a little research shows: Death by meteorite | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

And the 1-in-700,000 is based on the odds that some large strike will eventually kill a huge chunk of us at one time.

I hate statistics.

I feel a lot better now.

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by Rizon

My hands smell really funny and I can't figure out why.

The use of the word 'really' has stood out to me the past few days whenever I open this page. Like, at what point did your hands go from smelling funny to smelling really funny? And what constitutes the difference? Is it the unknown?

[JeeberDMack]

Originally Posted by sabotai

I wouldn't recommend the ocean either. Thousands of people there, restrooms rarely used.....

In the ocean the sharks eat them all. At least that's what I tell myself when I'm at the beach...

[Suicane75]

Haha, eat my ocean poop.

[Rizon]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

The use of the word 'really' has stood out to me the past few days whenever I open this page. Like, at what point did your hands go from smelling funny to smelling really funny? And what constitutes the difference? Is it the unknown?

I think it's the unknown. I've put my hands in all sorts of weird places, but it smelled REALLY funny. Like a mixture of rubber, crab, fired caps, unkempt crotch and dog biscuits. And something else I just couldn't figure out.

[JediKooter]

Not to mention what gets tossed out by the cruise ships and whale butts.

[ColtCrazy]

So apparently the town (about 5,000 people) that's just north of the one where I live has a prostitution problem. On one road, for $20, you can get pretty much whatever you want. For S&G I drove down the road on the way home from work one day because I didn't believe it. Saw 3 women try to stare me down (thank god for door locks). All I can say is wow...at the fact that it's in a small rural town. Not at the quality of the women.

[JediKooter]

I was going to ask if their hands smelled really funny, but, you said you locked your doors.

[bob]

I'm not sure if the WM3 committed those murders or not, but the "resolution" of this case seems icky to me.

Either they committed them and got off because of poor police work and the DA's desire to save money / face by not going back to trial, or they didn't commit them but still had to take a guilty plea in order to ensure their freedom but also to ensure that they could not sue the state for wrongful imprisonment (or whatever you can sue for in this type of case - not sure that's the right term).

Either way, both sides can spin this however they want. The one thing I do know is that I don't feel like I know the truth any more than I did when I first heard about this case years ago.

[Scoobz0202]

I just spent 200 dollars on a keyboard and a mouse. Impulse for the win!

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I was going to ask if their hands smelled really funny, but, you said you locked your doors.

Ha! I'm sure they would produce a really funny smell.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by bob

... but the "resolution" of this case seems icky to me.
... The one thing I do know is that I don't feel like I know the truth any more than I did when I first heard about this case years ago.

QFT

[britrock88]

The WM3 probably wanted out more than anything else, didn't care about a lawsuit, and took this as the quickest way to get there. Else, they'd have waited until November for the hearing to determine whether there would be a new trial, waited weeks to get that decision, then potentially sat through the period prosecutors would have to contemplate re-trying these guys, and potentially another trial (at which they could conceivably be convicted again, to take the word of their Alford pleas).

The Alford plea is akin to a good trade in that both sides get something out of the situation while still being left wanting. You just hate the lives the WM3 have lost (if they're in fact innocent -- don't know the case, won't form an opinion).