I wasn't sure if you were serious or not, but I'll bite -

Everyone was a slacker at some point. When you were a young child you did very little to help the family. When you did start to have responsibility you didn't understand why at first and only did the things because you were told to.
Its a gradual change into a person who understands that certain things have to be taken care of for, your own sake and, the sake of your family. To think someones life is automatically fucked up because they are a slacker is disgenuine.

Are you implying that between say 13-23 you didn't too stupid irresponsible things that would make others worry about you for your own selfish pleasure? I doubt anyone could deny they were more selfish than not during part of their life.

I am not saying drugs are required to make drastic realizations. If your daily routine has little or no changes you will always think in the same basic pattern and it takes some external event to change this. It could be a new job, a new love, a death etc. Taking certain drugs lets you control when these changes in perception occur rather than being a slave to fate.

No where in my original reply did I say anyone (myself or others) had to depend on drugs to make decisions. I stated two basic ideas - drugs can help you to make changes and that everyone should experience them at least once in their life. I also didn't say that the single time the person did them would create some epic change.

Something happened to you that caused a strong sensitivity to what I said. Maybe it was me telling you what to do, maybe someone you knew used drugs and became a loser, maybe my speech pattern reminds you of someone bad. I can't say what it is but if your strong reaction is genuine then I am sorry to dig up such anger.

Not all drugs are created equally. I would like you to view this chart http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Drug_danger_and_dependence.svg Notice that LSD has a lower dependency than pretty much everything, including nicotine and caffeine.
Secondly the average dosage is between 60 and 180 MICROgrams. Do you understand how small that is? It is essentially impossible for it to be adulterated. You could mix it with drain cleaner and and the amount you are ingesting would not cause damage.
The industry accepted lethal dose is 15,000 micrograms, which would be FIFTEEN PAGES of paper you would have to ingest. I don't think you could fit that all in your mouth

I am not convincing you personally to take it but be aware that a significant scientific breakthroughs in business/technology/science have taken place while the person was on some form of drugs. You should also be aware that most artists (both audio and physical) use drugs to create the inspiration for the works you enjoy.
One time I figured out why fire on the head of a match is the shape that it is and how the flame is constructed. Months later I explained how I perceived it to someone qualified and they said even though I lacked the proper technical terms I had gotten it right. I was very happy about that.

Like I said previously, not all drugs are created equally. LSD does not make you feel anything extra, it only enhances what you are already seeing or feeling. It gives you the ability to super focus on details you overlooked previously or zoom out and take a large amount of data in at once then process it.

I think my reply will be lost on you but hopefully someone else is reading this and will gain something from it. If it means anything to you I have taken acid only twice in the last two years.


>> ^schlub:

Since when is not deciding to being a slacker a revelation? Your life/lives must be pretty fucked up if you depend on hallucinogenics to make your life decisions for you. This notion that drugs expand your mind or make you see things more clearly is complete and utter bullshit.
>> ^braschlosan:
Because of LSD my little brother had the revelation to start doing well in his final year of high school and try to make his parents life easier.
Then while in his first year of college he had the revelation about many parts of life and decided to study hard and play hard too. Now he has fun on the weekends and is getting great grades. The combination of the two has given him infinite self esteem.
During the summer break after his first year of college he had another LSD revelation about taking drugs. Now he rarely takes them (in high school he was a big pothead and E-Tard), when he does take them its planned out ahead of time for a special event. He's not even 20 yet and has a "wise" outlook on just about everything.
I have had similar life altering changes because of LSD that I'd rather not share here,
I agree with Enoch.
>> ^enoch:
for those who may be a tad uptight hallucinagenics should be mandatory.
if only once in your lifetime.

Since when is not deciding to being a slacker a revelation? Your life/lives must be pretty fucked up if you depend on hallucinogenics to make your life decisions for you. This notion that drugs expand your mind or make you see things more clearly is complete and utter bullshit.
>> ^braschlosan:

Because of LSD my little brother had the revelation to start doing well in his final year of high school and try to make his parents life easier.
Then while in his first year of college he had the revelation about many parts of life and decided to study hard and play hard too. Now he has fun on the weekends and is getting great grades. The combination of the two has given him infinite self esteem.
During the summer break after his first year of college he had another LSD revelation about taking drugs. Now he rarely takes them (in high school he was a big pothead and E-Tard), when he does take them its planned out ahead of time for a special event. He's not even 20 yet and has a "wise" outlook on just about everything.
I have had similar life altering changes because of LSD that I'd rather not share here,
I agree with Enoch.
>> ^enoch:
for those who may be a tad uptight hallucinagenics should be mandatory.
if only once in your lifetime.

Because of LSD my little brother had the revelation to start doing well in his final year of high school and try to make his parents life easier.

Then while in his first year of college he had the revelation about many parts of life and decided to study hard and play hard too. Now he has fun on the weekends and is getting great grades. The combination of the two has given him infinite self esteem.

During the summer break after his first year of college he had another LSD revelation about taking drugs. Now he rarely takes them (in high school he was a big pothead and E-Tard), when he does take them its planned out ahead of time for a special event. He's not even 20 yet and has a "wise" outlook on just about everything.

I have had similar life altering changes because of LSD that I'd rather not share here,

I agree with Enoch.

>> ^enoch:

for those who may be a tad uptight hallucinagenics should be mandatory.
if only once in your lifetime.

Most recent dog that had to be put down was my parent's rescued German Shepard. He was losing his hair to something, having more trouble walking. His rear claws, a couple of them fell out. He could barely step up into the house on his own, a few inches off the ground.

This went on for a month with no improvement, but no noticeable deterioration...he kept losing hair. Vets wanted close to a grand to run tests on him to try to figure out what was happening to his skin after the first round of tests came up with nothing.

We thought it was a severe flea allergy at first, but it just kept spreading despite medications.

Got to where he couldn't get up on his own anymore, and this was a 100-120 pound dog with bad joints so you had to be really careful how you helped him. Eventually he started not going to the bathroom outside when they got him out, but he'd lay back down and pee all over himself.

He ate throughout this, he ate as much as he ever had when he was well. He responded well, acted like he wanted to do things but he just couldn't get up on his own.

Then he got to where he could barely walk once he got up, and he was put down after that started. Didn't sleep deeply or much throughout most of this. Vet was out of ideas, and this was almost two months of giving him a chance to recover if it was possible.

I felt that last week was irresponsible of my parents, my mother in particular, to continue on. Because despite him eating, he was noticeably worse and while he wasn't whining in pain he was panting all the time. The lengths they had to go to just to get him outside to use the bathroom was crazy, getting him back in was worse. And they had to try to plan it because it took both of them to do it.

I suspect he had some kind of cancer that was on his skin and internal, but the vets had no guesses as to what it was. But they advised that everything he came in contact with should be thrown out just in case it was infectious to other dogs or animals. I mean technically he could have recovered, but you're talking a thousand dollars in tests just to find out where to go next on a dog that was getting worse in a few months time. And was already near the typical lifespan of a well taken care of German Shepard, and he had heart worms due to previous owners and a bad diet for his first year of life...he was healthy enough but it plagued him through the years. Plus arthritic joints that had been getting steadily worse for him.

He was.......10 or 11, hard to be exact since he was a rescue. That was in Dec of 2011 a few days before christmas. It was either do it then or risk him getting even worse and having to go through the holidays with no places open.

Before that was a 18-19 year old cat. Whose kidneys were failing, some shots made it looked like she was recovering. But she got bad fast when she started getting bad again.

Both of those cases made the few extra days we got with them seem rather selfish after it was done, because both of them could barely sleep. Go to the bathroom under their own power, etc. And hindsight being 20/20 goes to that, but it was clear to me in both cases that at least a week ahead both of them were not going to make it. And plans should have been made so it wasn't a wake up in the morning, see the cat/dog is way worse than the day before and have to find an emergency vet or something because you waited until the weekend or it was too early in the morning to take them to the regular vet and they had to lay there for hours like that.

I miss them both, but.......that was selfishness to go to those extremes and kid ourselves that they weren't old for their breeds.


I mean maybe this guy's dog sleeps like a baby at night and it's a totally different case, but a 19 year old dog is a very old dog anyway you cut it. If it needs the water every day to function......when it gets cold out I hope that guy is prepared to do what's right for that dog.

I look at it as being no different than having an elderly parent who expressed their wishes to have no extreme measures taken to keep them alive after X many days 15 years ago. You will always have that doubt that they changed their mind in 15 years or that something could be done, but you also know what you agreed to do when they told you this. Once the reasonable options are exhausted, not doing what's best for them and/or within their wishes to prolong it "because maybe....." is selfish. Owning an animal is kind of like agreeing to do something like that, do your best and when it's time do what you agreed to. If vets are giving you multiple thousand dollar treatment options with low chances on an old animal, you're probably being a little hysterical and they don't want to kill that hope or are taking advantage of you.

And I say this as someone who despises people who mistreat animals, and let them breed uncontrollably and let them run stray around the neighborhoods getting hit by cars and such. They invoke suffering on animals by negligence and ignorance. You are as bad as them if you drag it out on your own pets after they've had a long long life compared to others of their breed. Try your best, and when the time comes...do what's right by them...not for you.

There are probably quite a number of people out there who wish they could be euthanized due a terminal illness or some kind of degenerative disease......it's not as heartless as it sounds but it hurts to think about.

>> ^Sagemind:

Never - Ever Purchase in-store warranty.
In-store warranty is just a gimmick add-on sale (and cash-grab)for the store. 99% of the time, the product's own warranty or the general store policy covers any defect or incidental damage to may occur.
Don't waste your money!


Warranty, replacement, and service plans can all be different and do different things. I used to work at a national computer retailer that made most of it's profit off various replacement and warranty programs so I've dealt with them quite a bit.

In my experience, in store warranty programs are no different than the manufacturer ones, and people tended to buy them for 2 or 3 years on items that only had a 1 year or less manufacturer warranty. The good ones would extend off the end of the manufacturer warranty, the bad ones would just overlap with it (theyd have redundant coverage the first year).

Replacement plans however can be quite useful and even beneficial. The company I worked for actually had to change it's policy for employees because it felt the system was too easy to game for us at discounted prices. The beauty of these is that they DO tend to cover accidental damage or wear and tear, which most warranties wont. They are usually short, 1 or 2 years and can be pricey if they cover stuff like screens or battery replacement.

Depending on your honesty or luck, replacement plans can be a way to replace or even upgrade your items for a modest price (for example I get an old headset replaced through a plan but I end up with a newer headset, and i just pay another $10 or so to cover the new set...rinse and repeat every couple of years).

For the few years I worked at that retailer, I was able to keep almost all of my hardware up to date for 10-50 bucks a piece every couple of years (at that time it included stuff like my video card and optical drives)!

85 billion dollars?

If you spent $100,000 a day, for 75 years, you would spend what the bank gave you, in the first year, in a standard checking account...

85 billion can generate more -per day- than one person can realistically spend in a year.

I finished the equivalent of 1.5 years of high school over a 4-year period, dropped out for a few years, did my equivalency, and got in the top ten percentile, then made the Dean's List and got scholarships my first year at university.

So yeah, screw high school. Bloody useless, especially comapred with taking care of your family. Geez.

One of my first cars was a hand-me-down Toyota Camry that my parents bought close to the first year they were made. I remember that before it became my car, it broke its timing chain causing it to be dead in the water and required a tow to fix. I don't think that caused any collateral damage when it happened, it just died. Seems like that is likely to mean that it wasn't an "interference engine"?

It seems like having a non-"interfering" engine would be a very desirable thing, to limit the potential damage caused by a broken timing belt/chain. Why isn't that standard design? Takes up too much physical space? I remember when the hood of a car used to have a whole lot of cubic area of air/empty space inside, and now it seems like everything is designed to jam pack in there and fill it to the brim. Or is there some other major engineering or design challenge that makes that difficult/impossible?

Not to sound like a viral ad, but that early Toyota Camry served me real well. My family got 220,000 miles out of it before a CV joint died that it wasn't trivial to find a replacement for. We ended up handing it over to a junkyard at that point since we couldn't track down the part. A local Mexican handyman bought it from the junkyard and either found the part or homebrewed some other solution, and for all I know it could well still be running and up into the 300k+ miles.

>> ^dannym3141:

>> ^Porksandwich:
I wouldn't have let him give me an account code or 10%. Because I guarantee those people were paying 150+ per account minimum. Back then it'd take you a month to hit max level and another month or two to get it geared. So you're looking at 50-60 box price + 10-15 per month x 3. So 80-105 just in pure cost for the account and add in time on top of that...people are going to want to be able to buy another account..so double it.
And I have no sympathy for someone who deals in areas where someone can flip a switch and you have no recourse in a court of law to even hope to defend yourself. TOS on electronic goods you don't control...you're just asking to get taken advantage of...even if he were the ones buying and selling accounts and controlled every aspect of it.
Hell with how ebay is now, you can have a legitimate product and still end up owing people money and being out your items....and you are SOL unless it's a big money item where the police might look into it.
I really hate gold and account sellers, they do more harm to games than you could even begin to guess at. Them "working around" the game system means that the flaws that keep people from actually playing and learning never get fixed because people skip around them with money....it's a cycle that never gets broken as long as account sales and gold sales are taking place. The games will never expand past it, because no one will admit to buying these things openly with fear of their account and stuff being taken away....so they look like happy customers.

Prices might be a bit high there, they don't buy these things from the biggest most costly store in america. You can buy digital copies of games, or you can even just ask a guy from <choose your loophole country> to buy you a bunch. If you want thousands, then you set up a nice little business deal with him. I only bought BF3 when i could find it electronically for 16 pounds; and thank god i did because it's another crappy EA money spinner that's only worth 15 pounds, any more would have been a ripoff.
Have you haven't considered the deals blizzard have done at least since lich king where you could sign up two new accounts, link them, and power level each other to max level in a matter of a few days. We got about 4 characters each to max level within a week and that was me and a friend doing it, mere amateurs.
Gear's a sticking point, but if someone wants GOOD gear, they'll pay good money because there's nothing for it but to sit through several resets to get all the gear you want.
In summary, i really don't have the patience to look up the prices. But the box prices can be smaller by quite a bit and you wouldn't even need to pay a month of subscription unless they wanted gear (and as i say, you'd charge loads more). I think for a virtually naked level 85 of any class, i'd be pleased to get 50 quid.
Once you start to charge any more, people are way more likely to say "... jeez dude i could do this for myself in a week" and fair point i say. But then again, i'm not a bastard - this could all be true and people might charge double that.
Edit:
I have taken into account exchange rate, don't worry. It adds up to cheaper i think.


He said in the video it was the first year of WoW...considering the pricing of blizz games holding value for multiple years..I doubt it was much lower than 50 bucks for the game. And the monthly only goes down if you pay in year lumps, so I think you'd charge for that if you had extra time on the account.

So, deals since Lich King don't matter...and first expansion to the game didn't come out until 2007. WoW was released in 2004. So end of first year would have made it 2005/2006. It was also slower to level pre-BC because there were less levels and the game was competing against EQ so it was a little rougher than it is now. And they are entirely different games, WoW when it was first released versus WoW now.

And only a year or two prior to WoW being released people were paying 5-10 grand for Everquest accounts. So 2-3 grand for a WoW account in it's first year is not absurd in the slightest considering it was half of the EQ prices in a new game that people were signing up to quite frequently. Was a guy in EQ who used to keep a group of 5 accounts subscribed so he could power level one single account to 50. Minimum he got for an account for the longest time was 1 grand, and he could do it in a couple weeks to a month with those 5 accounts buffing and what not to make sure to maximum XP by only grouping the minimum amount of people it needed to make a kill and use the rest to heal outside of group or pull outside of group. 1 grand account got you a minimal amount of money and any equipment he needed to level it, nothing fancy. The high level equipped guys went for 5 grand and up depending on the class, clerics/enchanters/warriors went for a lot. Druids went for the least because there was too many of them in the game, and the rest were somewhere in the middle. Bards were probably the most expensive due to the leveling penalties.

As for the week stuff.....you couldn't do that in WoW pre BC and doubtful you could have did it in BC before they added bonuses to referrals and re-signups...well not without a lot of extra accounts maximizing time. Which would just make pumping out accounts even more expensive since you've have to count all the other subscription prices into your pricing.

>> ^VoodooV:

LOL!!! you're comparing this topic to the actual work that engineers and physicists do? That is hilarious. Yes, I'm sure the engineering world has much to thank the awesome ability of arguing on a message board over what .999... is equal to.
This has nothing to do with calculus. This has nothing to do with actual practical work. This has nothing to do with solving actual problems. This is about going onto a internet message board and browbeating others which has already happened as I predicted.
Before you start insulting the education of someone else, make sure YOU'RE not making any mistakes of YOUR own, eh?
Sorry I can't stay and "debate" with you on this truly fascinating topic. I have to go to my job tomorrow and do REAL work and solve ACTUAL problems. Sure it's not as grand and as thought-provoking as comparing .999... to 1, nor do I get to beat up on some hapless internet newb who happens to take the troll-bait. But hey, we have to get our satisfaction somehow.
>> ^bcglorf:
>> ^VoodooV:
So enlighten me, o' wise ones. What is the point of this other than troll-bait and/or ego masturbation?
This topic is the intellectual equivalent of QM coming in here and making ad-homs about "His Earness" or waxing egocentric about why he is virtuous and true and the rest of us are all immoral entitlement whores.
You saw how quickly messenger called into question the entire sift's intelligence over Entropy's post.
This sort of thing does not lend itself well to civil discourse. Admit it, the only purpose of a topic such as this is to entice someone to come in here and to argue that .999... is not 1 so you can have a grand ole time stroking your ego and patting yourself on the back over how smart you are and how the other person is dumb.

This simple concept is one of the fundamental principles of calculus. Without it you don't have engineering, physics, or a million other things known as the modern world. It's not some obscure irrelevant math trivia only used by math geeks. It is a fundamental first year mathematics principle used by every scientist, engineer, and pharmacist in the work they do every day to make all the things you take for granted.
But yeah, just because your not educated enough to appreciate that you should rag all over it and insist it's unimportant. We should burn all the books you don't care for too, right?



Get over yourself. The video isn't supposed to start any kind of fight or internet debate. It's a simply instructive video about basic math.

If you want to be upset with anyone for starting an internet fight over something you consider unimportant blame the first poster in the thread that tried to turn it that way...

Oh, I see, it was you...

LOL!!! you're comparing this topic to the actual work that engineers and physicists do? That is hilarious. Yes, I'm sure the engineering world has much to thank the awesome ability of arguing on a message board over what .999... is equal to.

This has nothing to do with calculus. This has nothing to do with actual practical work. This has nothing to do with solving actual problems. This is about going onto a internet message board and browbeating others which has already happened as I predicted.

Before you start insulting the education of someone else, make sure YOU'RE not making any mistakes of YOUR own, eh?

Sorry I can't stay and "debate" with you on this truly fascinating topic. I have to go to my job tomorrow and do REAL work and solve ACTUAL problems. Sure it's not as grand and as thought-provoking as comparing .999... to 1, nor do I get to beat up on some hapless internet newb who happens to take the troll-bait. But hey, we have to get our satisfaction somehow.

>> ^bcglorf:

>> ^VoodooV:
So enlighten me, o' wise ones. What is the point of this other than troll-bait and/or ego masturbation?
This topic is the intellectual equivalent of QM coming in here and making ad-homs about "His Earness" or waxing egocentric about why he is virtuous and true and the rest of us are all immoral entitlement whores.
You saw how quickly messenger called into question the entire sift's intelligence over Entropy's post.
This sort of thing does not lend itself well to civil discourse. Admit it, the only purpose of a topic such as this is to entice someone to come in here and to argue that .999... is not 1 so you can have a grand ole time stroking your ego and patting yourself on the back over how smart you are and how the other person is dumb.

This simple concept is one of the fundamental principles of calculus. Without it you don't have engineering, physics, or a million other things known as the modern world. It's not some obscure irrelevant math trivia only used by math geeks. It is a fundamental first year mathematics principle used by every scientist, engineer, and pharmacist in the work they do every day to make all the things you take for granted.
But yeah, just because your not educated enough to appreciate that you should rag all over it and insist it's unimportant. We should burn all the books you don't care for too, right?

>> ^VoodooV:

So enlighten me, o' wise ones. What is the point of this other than troll-bait and/or ego masturbation?
This topic is the intellectual equivalent of QM coming in here and making ad-homs about "His Earness" or waxing egocentric about why he is virtuous and true and the rest of us are all immoral entitlement whores.
You saw how quickly messenger called into question the entire sift's intelligence over Entropy's post.
This sort of thing does not lend itself well to civil discourse. Admit it, the only purpose of a topic such as this is to entice someone to come in here and to argue that .999... is not 1 so you can have a grand ole time stroking your ego and patting yourself on the back over how smart you are and how the other person is dumb.


This simple concept is one of the fundamental principles of calculus. Without it you don't have engineering, physics, or a million other things known as the modern world. It's not some obscure irrelevant math trivia only used by math geeks. It is a fundamental first year mathematics principle used by every scientist, engineer, and pharmacist in the work they do every day to make all the things you take for granted.

But yeah, just because your not educated enough to appreciate that you should rag all over it and insist it's unimportant. We should burn all the books you don't care for too, right?

>> ^Tokoki:

We STILL only have those bright green uniforms? You'd think that after nearly 10 years of desert warfare...we'd be providing proper uniforms to our troops...


The Canadian military does have desert uniforms (although for the first year or two of the WOT, they didn't). This video's apparently filmed in the US, too, not in Afghanistan, which is probably why they're wearing green.

See here: http://youtu.be/tiFvo9UeTE4

I am an enormous fan of Sasuke. I even watch the full 4 hour subtitle-free Japanese broadcast every time. Anyone else?

American Ninja Warrior has come a long way from their first year where the finalists competed on the monkey bars at a beach.

One of the first things I messed around with in my first year of Ecology.

Another toughie are the Hydra, a genus that not only has remarkable regenarative properties, but also don't seem to age. Ie, they appear to be biologically immortal. They aren't quite as "cute" as the water bear though, they are basically jellyfish with a very simple nerve net that provides some basic behaviour that allows them to feed...and not much else.