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steve2470

steve2470's Journal
steve2470's Journal
December 20, 2011

Enthusiast still cannot access DU3, trying to help here

He PMed me (in response to my PM query) and said this is the message he gets:

"Waiting for (URL)"

I'm assuming the problem is still not fixed. Can anyone aid Enthusiast ?

December 20, 2011

Moving to a "warm climate" versus staying put in a colder one ?

I've always heard that it's "easier" for an elderly person to live in a warmer climate (Florida, southern Texas, Arizona, etc) than in a colder one. Is that really true or exaggerated ?

December 20, 2011

Poll: How vile are Ayn Rand's socio-economic ideas ?

The scale is, zero being totally harmless to Nazism being a 100.

Based on my limited knowledge, I'd give them a 90.

December 20, 2011

FDA Tells Man to Stop Donating Sperm on the Internet

http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/19/fda-tells-man-to-stop-donating-sperm-on-the-internet/

A man from the San Francisco Bay area has fathered 14 children in the last five years through free sperm donations to childless couples he meets on the Internet — and is now in trouble with the federal government.

Trent Arsenault of Fremont says he donates sperm out of a sense of service to help people who want to have children but can’t afford conventional sperm banks. The 36-year-old minister’s son has four more children on the way.

“I always had known through people praying at church that there’s fertility issues,” Arsenault told The Associated Press on Monday. “I thought it would just be a neat way of service to help the community.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent Arsenault a cease-and-desist letter late last year telling him he must stop because he does not follow the agency’s requirements for getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases within seven days before giving sperm. The FDA did not immediately respond to questions about what kind of punishment he faces.
December 20, 2011

All World of Warcraft’s Customer Service Ever Wanted Was a Unicorn

http://kotaku.com/5869466/all-world-of-warcrafts-customer-service-ever-wanted-was-a-unicorn



After spending hours on end dealing with angry, distraught, frustrated, and downright abusive customers, it's easy to imagine this lovely unicorn drawing was enough to get World of Warcraft customer service representatives to reverse a permanent ban.

While I cannot confirm whether or not this image, currently making the rounds at Reddit, is real or fake, I can confirm that if I worked for Blizzard customer service I would have had the exact same reaction to scoring free unicorn art in one of my tickets, even if it is sadly lacking in the rainbow department.

Just don't try it here. We've got unicorns coming out of our asses.

Wait...

*more at link*

Such an absurdly awesome story !
December 19, 2011

Putting cardboard in shoes to make them last longer - anyone else ?

My dad, who survived the Great Depression, insisted I do this. Anyone else ?

December 18, 2011

LA Times: Autism hidden in plain sight (article about adult autism)

When autism researchers arrived at Norristown State Hospital near Philadelphia a few years ago, they found a 63-year-old man who rambled on about Elvis Presley, compulsively rocked in his chair and patted the corridor walls.

Ben Perrick, a resident of the psychiatric institution for most of his life, displayed what the University of Pennsylvania researchers considered classic symptoms of autism. His chart, however, said he was schizophrenic and mentally retarded.

Delving into the file, the researchers learned that as a 10-year-old, Perrick had seen Dr. Leo Kanner, the psychiatrist who discovered autism. In his notes from 1954, Kanner described Perrick as “a child who is self centered, withdrawn, and unable to relate to other people,” and recommended that he be committed.

Later, other doctors relabeled Perrick. The autism diagnosis was forgotten.

link here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/autism/la-me-autism-day-four-html,0,6403471.htmlstory?track=lat-pick

December 18, 2011

Did anyone actually hear "walked four miles to school in knee-deep snow, etc" stuff growing up ?

I never did. Of course I grew up in Florida

December 18, 2011

Father’s open letter to Google: ‘Thanks for making my daughter cry’

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/hey-google-thanks-for-making-my-daughter-cry/2011/12/12/gIQAhYx9pO_blog.html

Father Rich Warren sounded off Sunday on social media sites Reddit and Google+ about his upsetting morning: He had woken up to find that Google had suddenly, without warning, shut down his daughter’s e-mail account and blog. His daughter had used her Gmail to send e-mail to her grandparents, friends and classmates, and had started the Blogger blog as a class project.

Warren said he believed both accounts were disabled because his daughter was underage. Under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Web sites collecting information from children under age 13 must take a number of steps to protect the child’s privacy. Warren says he’s not upset with Google for complying with COPPA, but how they went about it.

“Google could have made other choices — choices that are more customer friendly, more child friendly and more parent friendly. But they didn't,” he wrote on his Google+ account. “They've chosen to act apparently without ever considering how their actions might affect the people who use and rely on their services.”

Back in May, Google seemed to encourage children’s memories be shared on Gmail, YouTube, blogs and other services. In a viral video commercial dubbed “Dear Sophie,” a father is shown creating a Gmail account for his baby daughter, and then using it to send her photos, videos, and messages that chronicle her growing up, so that she can read and see them when she’s older:

*more at link above*
December 17, 2011

watched "We Were Soldiers", feedback sought

We Were Soldiers


How realistic was it ? I've already read the wiki article on it and they totally glossed over the fact that, supposedly, Lt. Col. Moore refused to be airlifted out of the battle twice (by my recollection). If that's true, isn't that grounds for a court-martial ?

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