Cancer

Re: The Last Word Probably the most unlikely (to me!) father-son dynamic I ever saw was at a Pink Floyd concert in Vancouver BC, circa 1994. Father-son pair passing a joint back & forth to each other. Not something I'd ever imagined before.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER It's when they start turning green that you're in real trouble.

Re: Answers & Questions Q: Dude, you're burned on both sides and covered with some unspeakable greasy s**t. WTF happened? A: I have my porcupine. I have my eggbeater. Let's go kick a**.

Re: The Last Word Second-guessing others' perceptions of one's self is something I wasted way too much energy and time on when I was younger, for clear negative benefit.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Yeah, it's an afternoon-class project the first time.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Very briefly, as long as you're not entering numeric IP addresses directly, your machine ALWAYS consults a DNS to run the URL into the numeric IP. And the machine ALWAYS checks its Hosts file first, a local file in a designated place with a list of server names and their associated IP numbers. Most people have no Hosts file or a one-liner, but it is possible to put others in. And, to the point, misdirect certain obnoxious servernames to point to the local host (that is, your own machine). That means that lots of ads will get 404 ("Not Found") errors quickly, but the obnoxious crap won't get through. Here is a source for getting one into place. The weakness is that new server names have to be added individually; there are no wild cards in that file syntax. The good part is that it's a flat-text file, human readable, so even mere mortals can know what they are letting themselves in for by looking at the file. There can't be any concealed back doors, though it's impossible to get completeness of coverage.

Re: The Last Word I learned long ago that following that line of inquiry is generally little more than self-destructive.

Re: The Last Word More than that, actually. Both my wife and my sister-in-law, early in their relationships with me & my brother respectively, wondered about certain peculiar attitudes we had vis-a-vis our parents, and mom in particular. They no longer wonder about that; what they wonder is how we turned out to be things that they'd like enough to marry.

Re: Musings on Random Musings A hosts file is your friend.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat You notice that a very large humanoid in garish costume has removed the roof and ceiling, and is glaring into all the cubes with the annoyance of someone not finding what he's looking for. NT: Appropriate deaths for your Least Favorite Person At Work

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Naah, I like it here. Don't wanna get banned.

Re: The Last Word I think I'd have to get my wife to catalog traits of mine into mom & dad bins. All of them drive her crazy.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Actually, I find myself wondering if the spot around what is now called Trumanplatz still smells the same way as it did last time I was there, which was 1971. I first smelled that in 1962, and it's not a bad smell at all. Just not one I've encountered anywhere else.

Re: Musings on Random Musings I've found that odors can trigger memories of things that I hadn't encountered in over 40 years. Doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's quite powerful.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Hmm, that leads off to some really demented ideas I had years ago.

Re: The Last Word Could be. I will say that the things you notice about yourself change slowly with time, so the final verdict isn't in by any means.

Re: The Last Word Almost certainly there must be contributions from both sides. It's clearly that way in my kids.

Re: The Last Word She sure did, but Dad got in practical jokes of truly cosmic proportions. He rates a in my book.

Re: The Last Word My kids start a new semester today, and it sounds like my son is in a Solar System astronomy course. I'll have to contact the teacher and see if they want any help. Either that, or I'm going to get to do some real whoppers of Calvin's Dad sort of jokes.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Mrs. Grundy comes out from the teachers' break room, paddles them both, and sets them to writing "I WILL NOT INDULGE PUBLICLY IN FANTASIES OF GRANDEUR." 100 times on the blackboard after school.

Re: The Last Word Hmm, then what I read was fiction, or game-world material, or similar drabble.

Re: The Last Word Actually, I've seen neither movie; just going from dim memory of some long-ago reading about that mystical tradiation.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Dude, that magic dragon was way cooler than any furball.

Re: "Neat" Pictures Whose was the Face on Mars? Here's who. See the inset at left. (The inset isn't there in the large version of the image; the humanoid figure is near the left edge, about 2/3 of the way down in the big version.) FWIW, I still think Mars looks a lot like Grant County, Washington.

Re: "Neat" Pictures Y'know that extra, inner set of jaws that the Alien has? Moray eels have 'em. And use 'em.