Random Thoughts Part 4 - Split Thread

[jim hardy]

TIL that in 2001-2003 England sold a lot of its gold at market low.
"Brown's Bottom".
I wonder why.
On second thought, that's what i do in stock market.

 

[WWGD]

Wonder how Starbucks and other coffee shops negotiate obvious liability issues : letting power cables loose along the floor so that
anyone can run into it and trip -- and a laptop may come crashing into the floor. Who's guilty, who is responsible for the fall, for the damaged computer? And the drinks on tables that may spill into laptops; I was cringing when this lady was carelessly drinking a cup of tea while I was working with my laptop a few inches away from her drink. I feel like saying: I don't mind sharing my table, but no drinks, please (please put them somewhere nearby other than the table, or hold it in your hands ). But this may trigger an argument; a coffee shop is not a place where you can reasonably ask someone not to bring a drink to the table.

 

[JorisL]

But this may trigger an argument; a coffee shop is not a place where you can reasonably ask someone not to bring a drink to the table.

I think this is the essence of any reasonable answer.

 

[rbelli1]

a coffee shop is not a place where you can reasonably ask someone not to bring a drink to the table.

You don't go to a rodeo and expect not to get dang on your shoes.

BoB

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think this is the essence of any reasonable answer.

Call me Ishmael, but everyone probably knows that "Starbuck" was the first mate of the Pequod, the ever-so-reasonable ballast against Captain Ahab's stormy obsessions. It logically(?) follows that Starbuck's would have some essentially reasonable policy for dealing with errant liquids spilled by peg-legged mariners as they are tangled in internet cords and dragged overboard leaving ruined laptops in their wake.

 

[WWGD]

You don't go to a rodeo and expect not to get **** on your shoes.

BoB

Still, there could be some level of etiquette where, e.g., anyone with a drink in a table with a laptop could hold the drink in their hands, at least
until around just 20% of the drink is left. Then a spillover would happen more slowly and would be easier to control. I do it for you today, you
do it for me next day. But I am not holding my breath.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Still, there could be some level of etiquette where, e.g., anyone with a drink in a table with a laptop could hold the drink in their hands, at least
until around just 20% of the drink is left. Then a spillover would happen more slowly and would be easier to control. I do it for you today, you
do it for me next day. But I am not holding my breath.

BoB's point being, though, that simply using your laptop in a public place exposes it to physical risks. In other news, I found out a few months ago that simply using it in a private place exposes it to physical risks, when I myself spilled a cup of coffee on my laptop here at home. After getting it fixed, I reacted by building a stand for it that elevates it on stilts a couple inches above the desk top, and I keep the keyboard covered with plastic wrap. They make keyboard protectors. You could get one of those. And find some suitable thing to carry with you to set your laptop on that will elevate it above any tsunami from a spilled beverage at Starbuck's. Those measures are more realistic than the ones you're ruminating about.

 

[DennisN]

Happy new year, everybody!

 

[WWGD]

Tough choices to make: Twilight Zone , Burn Notice ? Which marathon to watch? There is a House marathon, but I don't like the show that much, it seems contrived. And when do I go out to get my caffeine? Life is hard.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Life is hard.

Tell me about it. Yesterday I came to page 40 of a very good novel from the library only to find pages 41, 42, 43, and 44, had been torn out. I couldn't continue the book without them. That's too big a gap. I took the book back to the library, pointed out the disfigurement, and went to check the shelves for another copy, but there was none. So, I drove 3 or 4 miles to the nearest other library only to find that branch was completely closed from Christmas to NewYears.

In the meantime, I'm sunk in speculation about why someone would do that to a book. I couldn't think of any reason that was completely rational in my mind.

 

[WWGD]

Tell me about it. Yesterday I came to page 40 of a very good novel from the library only to find pages 41, 42, 43, and 44, had been torn out. I couldn't continue the book without them. That's too big a gap. I took the book back to the library, pointed out the disfigurement, and went to check the shelves for another copy, but there was none. So, I drove 3 or 4 miles to the nearest other library only to find that branch was completely closed from Christmas to NewYears.

In the meantime, I'm sunk in speculation about why someone would do that to a book. I couldn't think of any reason that was completely rational in my mind.

Difficult to profile: a selfish person was reading the same novel, tore the pages out to read them back home? Not likely, s/he would have torn out more pages most likely, not just 3 or 4. A radical? Not likely, I don't think the public library elicits powerful emotions, good or bad, in most people. My guess would be that someone borrowed the book, somehow damaged the pages (maybe s/he was reading it at a Starbucks and someone spilled coffee/tea on it ;) ) in a visible way, then decided to tear them out so that the damage was not visible and return the book without having to pay a penalty. Or maybe it was a nut. Libraries don't usually filter out nuts; I have seen many clearly mentally ill people hanging out at public libraries.

 

[Ibix]

In the meantime, I'm sunk in speculation about why someone would do that to a book. I couldn't think of any reason that was completely rational in my mind.

Person has a two year old?

 

[zoobyshoe]

My guess would be that someone borrowed the book, somehow damaged the pages (maybe s/he was reading it at a Starbucks and someone spilled coffee/tea on it ;) ) in a visible way, then decided to tear them out so that the damage was not visible and return the book without having to pay a penalty.

My first thought, though, was that those pages contained some idea or opinion some crazy person wanted to censor. The library does attract crazy people. The novel is set in Russia so it might have been an anti-religious sentiment that was running through the protagonist's mind, that sort of thing.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Person has a two year old?

Ah! Good one. Very plausible and yet it didn't occur to me.

 

[zoobyshoe]

This speculation, in itself, gives me an idea for a novel. In the first chapter the protagonist encounters just such a book, and wonders about the cause of the missing pages. Each subsequent chapter describes a different scenario whereby two leaves of a library book get torn out and the book returned to the library by various different people for different reasons. Then, in the final chapter, all the various people are all brought together in some spectacular situation where something very interesting happens.

It would be titled, hmmm...

 

[WWGD]

Person has a two year old?

? Has a two year old or _is_ (emotionally/developmentally) a two year old?

 

[WWGD]

This speculation, in itself, gives me an idea for a novel. In the first chapter the protagonist encounters just such a book, and wonders about the cause of the missing pages. Each subsequent chapter describes a different scenario whereby two leaves of a library book get torn out and the book returned to the library by various different people for different reasons. Then, in the final chapter, all the various people are all brought together in some spectacular situation where something very interesting happens.

It would be titled, hmmm...

Maybe you can skip part of the plot and jump from page 40 to 45.

 

[Ibix]

? Has a two year old or _is_ (emotionally/developmentally) a two year old?

Two year olds are very curious and have limited understanding of concepts like "fragile", and their toys and books tend to be quite robust. That's a bad combination of traits and life experience if you happen to have left your adult library book in reach.

 

[WWGD]

Two year olds are very curious and have limited understanding of concepts like "fragile", and their toys and books tend to be quite robust. That's a bad combination of traits and life experience if you happen to have left your adult library book in reach.

Makes sense, sorry for my mental lazyness.

 

[jim hardy]

i took 10 year old nephew to the library. He's fascinated with the outdoorsman lifestyle
The fishing section had been raided by some sort of anti-fishing organization who'd stuffed all the books with leaflets describing the agony imposed on fishes by fishermen.
Nephew asked: "Don't they know what fish do to each other?"

He has a point. It's a good thing most fish don't get big enough to swallow a person.

 

[WWGD]

i took 10 year old nephew to the library. He's fascinated with the outdoorsman lifestyle
The fishing section had been raided by some sort of anti-fishing organization who'd stuffed all the books with leaflets describing the agony imposed on fishes by fishermen.
Nephew asked: "Don't they know what fish do to each other?"

He has a point. It's a good thing most fish don't get big enough to swallow a person.

Maybe preferable to have the 2 yr olds Ibix refers to than these ( only chronological) adults near library books. EDIT: Seems Zoobyshoe's theory is a more likely explanation for what happened to the pages of his book.

 

[zoobyshoe]

i took 10 year old nephew to the library. He's fascinated with the outdoorsman lifestyle
The fishing section had been raided by some sort of anti-fishing organization who'd stuffed all the books with leaflets describing the agony imposed on fishes by fishermen.
.

Interesting you mention this because, in another book I read by the same author, the corpse under investigation died while out fishing.

So, let's consider the unlikely but still plausible: It could be the previous borrower of the book took it with him fishing, left it sitting open on the deck of the pier, and tore out the pages with his hook while trying to cast.

 

[jim hardy]

So, let's consider the unlikely but still plausible:

hopefully he didnt use them to wrap his catch... that'd be unsportsmanlike.

 

[WWGD]

I fell asleep during a few of the episodes of the Twilight Zone marathon ( recent, colorized version) . Now I must hope that they start repeating episodes during the marathon hoping to see the last 10-15 minutes showing the ending of the episodes in question..

 

[nuuskur]

Happy new Year all of you!

 

[Silicon Waffle]

H^a_pp^y N^ew _Ye_ar!

 

[Ibix]

Pray when, apey?

 

[WWGD]

Hadn't been to PF since last year!

( Mandatory cheesy New Year's joke )

 

[WWGD]

Hope now by the 2nd (at least most of) the annoyance of not knowing which places are open for business will be gone.

Strange to see , now that temperature has plummeted from the 70's to the 40's , to see people acting as if they were offended, you know, the 70-degree weather was a sort of promise of a lighter Winter that has not been kept (by mother nature, I guess.).

 

[zoobyshoe]

Strange to see , now that temperature has plummeted from the 70's to the 40's , to see people acting as if they were offended, you know, the 70-degree weather was a sort of promise of a lighter Winter that has not been kept (by mother nature, I guess.).

Here's a nice, easy-read essay on that topic:
http://www.overcomingbias.com/2007/05/the_agency_prob.html

The problem is that in the process of anthropomorphizing, or anecdotalizing, or allegorizing, we can impute agency where it isn’t due. When we teach kids that "electrons follow the path of least resistance" or "genes want to survive," when we insist that there’s a Mother Nature or Father Christmas, we occlude understanding.

 

[WWGD]

Here's a nice, easy-read essay on that topic:
http://www.overcomingbias.com/2007/05/the_agency_prob.html

It would be nice to have some training available to be able to avoid all biases, or at least to the greatest degree possible. Ironically, those undergoing this training may end up feeling alienated, living in a society with institutions and many other assumptions built on biased, unsupportable assumptions.

 

[lisab]

Hubby: I'm making potatoes au gratin tonight.

Me: Great! I'll get the mandolin. I'll play a little music while you slice potatoes.

 

[DiracPool]

Me: Great! I'll get the mandolin. I'll play a little music while you slice potatoes.

Can you record your performance and post it? I'm fearing that LisaB renounced her "mentorship" simply to get the extra 150 bonus points you get when Greg puts you out to pasture as an emeritus. I'm lobbying to get LisaB back as a full Mentor!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Can you record your performance and post it?

I second the motion. PF is actually riddled with people who can play one instrument or another, and it might be fun to start a thread of PF performers. (There'd have to be parameters set, but that's no problem.)

 

[DiracPool]

I second the motion. PF is actually riddled with people who can play one instrument or another, and it might be fun to start a thread of PF performers. (There'd have to be parameters set, but that's no problem.)

Great idea, are we going to start with your Hammond organ version of "Phantom of the opera"?