Randox

I live in a pop culture cave, so this is the first I have heard of the movie. My first thought was 'who the [bleep] releases a movie 2 days before Christmas', and my second thought was 'AWESOME!'. I've read a couple of the books (like, exactly 2), and I really liked them. Since they have decided to release the movie one what is probably the 4th most inconvenient day all year (right after Christmas, Christmas Eve, and Boxing Day), at least for me, I doubt I will be seeing this before the new year. Still, something to look forward to before school starts up again.

I'm not home, so I can't get better pics, but I have these knocking around. This is Fergus. He's like 5 years old now, and still 100% a puppy. His goal in life is to make you give him a scratch. He also has a LOT of fur, so he always looks twice as big as he really is. We shave him in the summer, and are always amazed at how not gigantic he is (he is actually about as big as border collies get, he just looks about twice as wide as he is). This is Jill. I think she is 11 or 12 now. She used to be a working dog before we got her. Her new 'job' is to play fetch. She will play until you force her to stop. She actually drops the ball for you, unlike Fergus who just runs around with a ball in his mouth.

I had one like this. It was at a party at someone's house, and their bathroom didn't have locks (I hate it when people don't have locks in their bathroom). It also had two doors. I had the forethought to grab a magazine just in case, which turned out to be a really good idea. There was also the time I had a particularly spectacular wipe-out on the sea-doo, right in front of the local beach. It's hard to preserve your dignity when your slowly swimming back to the sea-doo while it essentially sits there mocking you. At least I gave them a show I guess.

Currently trying to get into Paramedicine. Aside from it being shift work (12 hour shifts that rotate between night and day), that's where I really want to be, and I am more than willing to put up with the shifts to get that kind of job. Around here, I could also work my way into working in Emerge at a hospital. All the hospitals around here, use paramedics as triage nurses instead of actual nurses. In the meantime, I am studying Economics.

Heh, he isn't a troll. I referred him here because honestly, you guys give better advice than I do.

Is this some weird plan by the university to encourage the remaining students to take as few showers as possible? Nothing says [bleep] YOU! like shutting off the hot water when there are still people paying to live in your facilities :thumbsup: Also, doesn't this kind of mess up the laundry? I am under the impression that regular laundry detergents don't work as well in ice water. Like, the hot water feature on washing machines wasn't put there so that they could sell cold water detergent 50 years later, it was put there because it actually helps.

The trick is to wait until your bored with RuneScape, and then start a relationship. If you do it right, you can delegate RuneScape right back to hobby status where it belongs :thumbsup:

Heh, I figured that would come up. Yeah, it is kinda a waste of money, there is no getting around that. Considering the price of water here, a cold shower is effectively free I think, though if the furnace is already running to warm out the houses heating system, I don't think it has to work any harder to do a shower too. Perhaps I should be trying to time my showers to match up with the furnace so that there is no incremental cost :thumbsup: It's a gigantic waste of water too. It might come from growing up on well, where the water was effectively unlimited, and I never even thought about the heating cost. I had years to hone my bad habbit. Now I consider the shower to be like my 'holy place' where everything is just fine, and I can think things through in peace. Even if I was into the cold shower thing, I would probably keep them going quite long because I do need that time to think and relax. And maybe once I have a place to myself (or me plus 1), the cost of my showers will convince me to change my ways (or someone else will force me too). In my current arrangement, the cost is so spread out that it doesn't matter.

Between the tool belt and the 30 extra bank spaces, I gained 50 bank slots today. And I almost have the entire belt full now. Mega win. I wan't the Archon title, but its very expensive (for a title).

I am Lord Supreme of the long shower. It doesn't bother me though, since I factor how long I take into my showers. I think I average 15 minutes most of the time, but I think my record is like 30. This house limits a bit though since the fan (and the light over the shower) are on a timer, and it maxes out at 30. I normally try to get out at 10 to 15 minutes left. Oddly enough, if I have to, I can shower in like 2 minutes (I'll be a bit less clean though since that only leaves time for one go at the shampoo, and it doesn't get any time to sit and do its work). But only if I have to.

My current project is not nearly as polished looking (I am still working on making things look nice) as some of your guys projects, but I am proud enough of what I have done so share it. It's maybe 50% done, because the castle is about half built (It will probably end up being taller, needs all its towers completed, and it needs battlements), and there is still an entire village to build, as well as some stuff under ground. I started on this once I grew tired of making redstone circuits for my mountain fortress. Also the island used to have a hill on it. The wall and flattening the island combined was 12 hours. For the castle, I got a program to help me build some of the walls because I injured both wrists making the walls (I did it in a day, which was a mistake). Once I am done I plan on going around and trying to make things look a bit nicer. Right now, I am still a bit overwhelmed about the scale of the project compared to what I normally do, and I am focusing more on the bulk work. Also, the wall is about 100x160 meters, so the walls encompass about 1.6 hectares. Also, you can walk around the walls either on top or inside the entire way. Finally, the interior of the castle (last pic) is going to be part labrynth because I needed something to fill it with. Once that's done I'll build a real interior on top of it. [hide] [/hide]

Okay, well from experience, at the temperature I used, it will never feel warm. As soon as I get used to a temperature, it feels cold to me by default. The only way to stop that from happening is to get the water warm enough that my body temperature rises, and it has to try to cool down (which obviously forces me to feel warm in an effort to get me to move to some place cooler). Not surprised this works for other people though. Most people, when they go swimming in the lake that I live on, they 'get used to it' and the water feels okay to them. Me, I just get progressively colder. I don't seem to feel temperature the same way as most people. Sometimes I wonder if I froze to death in a past life and it carried over, or if its because I'm so damn skinny that I just can't keep heat in. I have the same problem with any swimming pool. I can't stay in for more than about 20 minutes at a time, or parts of my body start turning blue (this would be around 65 I think). I was shivering head to toe before I got my whole legs in the shower, and my teeth were doing a machine gun imitation by 15 seconds.

Well...[bleep] NO. Holy Jesus, how did someone take that for 7 minutes? I think I lasted about a minute before I turned the heat on. Now, maybe it's because I pretty much used full cold, which at midnight in the winter around here would probably make that water not too far above freezing (it felt about the same as plunging my arm into ice water). I'm thinking about 50F tops. Maybe that was too cold (then again, I've gone swimming in the Atlantic which is only 53.6 in the summer here (though I normally wear a wetsuit for that if I plan on being in for more than 10 minutes or so). Anyway, at the minute mark with the numbness spreading, I bailed. I don't care how amazing it feels after however many minutes, its not worth getting used to. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow with like room temperature water (which is still cold in my books), rather than 'it feels like that time I got paid to run around someone's house in a foot of snow after being in their outdoor hot tub for 15 minutes and then got tackled into a snow bank' water. riku3220, my hat goes off to you. I can't believe you took that for so long. You were still freezing your arse off while I was cranking up the heat in an effort to soak up warmth like some kind of thermal capacitor.

Okay, now I'm kinda tempted to try this, despite my dislike for being cold. I mean, if after a minute its not gonna fly, I can always thaw myself out. Back in a bit, or this is going to keep me up all night, and honestly, there are other thoughts I would rather have keep me awake then 'is tipit full of BS or is there something to that shower thing'.

Long day, though I'm finally awake. My room is probably 90% clean now. I still need to deal with my dresser, which has a whole bunch of random stuff sitting on it. I could also probably clear all the stuff off my stairs (been there so long I stopped noticing it, but its silly having a tool box and printer sitting at the bottom of my stairs). And the fridge still needs to be done :thumbdown: In other good news, I think I managed to wake up early enough today that I am back on a normal sleep schedule (the idea being to go to bed around midnight and wake up at like 8 or 9). I miss the days when I could fix my sleep cycle by just not going to sleep for day, but if I try to do that now, I just fall asleep around lunch. I've also discovered Improv-A-Ganza, which is the carry on in spirit of Whose Line. Most of the same people, though Wayne isn't a regular which makes me sad (I found he was the most talented, especially at singing). Boy have they all aged (I forget how old Whose Line is).

Heh, one of the advantages of living in a house where ALL the heating is water based (its a converted and expanded steam heating system), is that the house has a very robust capacity for heating water out of necessity. The furnace seems to do an excellent job as the water is hot enough to burn you (after a couple seconds of exposure), and its virtually instant all day every day, no matter if the washing machine is going with both showers on. This would be opposed to my parents house where the water is a fair bit cooler, and you have to run the water for a minute or two to get hot. Also, its not possible to freeze anyone in the shower by flushing a toilet here :shades:

A cold shower would cause you body to activate one of its survival mechanisms. The blood vessels in your arms and legs will become heavily constricted, which not only vastly reduces blood flow to your extremities, but also decreases the volume of blood present. This allows your body to pool extra blood in your torso (specifically it sends the blood to your internal organs) in an attempt to maintain core body temperature (your limbs can survive being cold for much longer than your internal organs). I'm not sure this would actually improve blood flow to any part of your body though. I suppose it might get a faster flow going for your core. It would also raise your blood pressure for bit I suspect, though that's not really a problem in the short term. Interestingly, pulling blood out of the limbs is also one of 3 reflexes in mammals that is activated by being submerged in water (in particular, your face), and is the second one down in this list: Bradycardia, a slowing of the heart rate by up to 50% in humans. Peripheral vasoconstriction, the restriction of the blood flow to the extremities to increase the blood and oxygen supply to the vital organs, especially the brain Blood Shift, the shifting of blood to the thoracic cavity, the region of the chest between the diaphragm and the neck, to avoid the collapse of the lungs under higher pressure during deeper dives. <- This is why diving doesn't kill you

Nah. I start my showers out hot, and I increase the temperature continuously as I get used to it to keep it feeling hot the entire time (which is fun because this houses water heater is more than capable of inflicting burns if your not careful). It seems to work out for me. In the morning it gets me warmed up and nice and relaxed, and puts me in a mood to think about how I am going to tackle the day. If I shower at night, I can get it hot enough that it actually starts to make me drowsy, which gets me all relaxed and ready to go to sleep. I also can't say I am a big fan of cold water in general. I live on a lake with abnormally cold water (its only a degree above the Atlantic ocean most of the time, which is to say 13-14C (55 to 57F in summer). I've never found swimming in it to be particularly refreshing, but rather it generally makes me really tense and gives me sinus headaches when I get out. Most of my time spent on the lake is diving or water skiing (as far as being in the water goes). Not saying cold showers can't work for some people. Sounds like they do. But the thought of having one myself makes me want to spend the night in a sauna.

Got up hours ago, and I still don't feel fully awake. Today I clean my room up. Kinda let things slide for a bit, and now its time to make it super clean. I also need to clean my mini fridge, which is always delightful. Looking around, I have too much...stuff. Also too much laundry to do. Ah well, best to get it done while I have the time. Also, starting into a new relationship :thumbsup: and location dictates that my place is going to be doing pretty much all the hosting, so I want my room to make a good impression. I've always got my shit together more when I am with someone :lol:

One more. I was crying (from laughing) by the time this one finished. Sometimes its funnier when they mess up :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=327AO2NclN8

Precisely. I try to stay away from those feelings because they're essentially just unproductive - and for some magical reason being productive (even if it's for no clear purpose) makes me happy. It's just that certain stimuli, like the mall, pushes the universal question of purpose to the front of my mind whether I like it or not. Okay, well that's fair. Everyone has ticks. I was afraid you might be like that in general :P Moving on, this is how more songs need to be written. Been watching the show a bit, and I would love a compilation of all the songs they have created. I can't believe how good they are at it (normally). I figure this has got to be one of the hardest forms of improv ever. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdbHedBtZKc -and- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QclDoGyelbk

There is something to be said for shopping itself. Some people actually find it fun. Specifically, the anticipation of buying something does cause a chemical release of happy drugs in the brain (and you actually do have to buy it to get the genuine anticipation that causes the release). This is why people buy things they never use. Also, wouldn't you be the nihilist? I don't see how that can possibly apply to anything that is incapable of thought. I'd also suggest that meaning is subjective, and 'in the eye of the beholder'. Nothing in life has meaning if you don't find meaning in it. When I go shopping, I have a goal (rare are the times when people can get me into the store when I don't have any desire to actually buy something). Shopping allows me to achieve that goal. Shopping might be meaningless to you :P, but its not that way for everyone. Most of us will never make any real impact on the grand scale of things. Only a handful of people in any given generation get to do that. And even then, what we as a species accomplish will never really amount to any meaning in the context of the Universe. We could probably make an impact on our solar system, and one day maybe we will even make an impact on our Galaxy, but I doubt we will ever be able to get beyond affecting maybe a handful of galaxies at most. When compared to the universe, even a few galaxies is...meaningless. Take joy in your own life, in the things that matter to you. If you constantly sit back and think about things as they apply to the larger scale, then you'll (a) stop caring about other people all together because they are insignificant, and (b) become depressed because nothing you will ever do will make a meaningful impact on the Universe :D

Can't say I really enjoy the taste of alcohol. I mostly stick to vodka, because its really easy to disguise it. I drink either for the effect itself, or to be social (ie if everyone else is having a drink, I'll normally have one of my own).

I think hating on the US is like an international past time. I know its fairly common for Canadians to make fun of Americans for their poor knowledge of Canadian geography, especially when it comes to underestimating just how big Canada is (which is some place around 300,000 sq mi larger than the United States). In Nova Scotia, its people who try to get taxi's from Halifax to Toronto, which is a roughly 18 hour drive, and would cost you several grand. Also, people who don't realise it's not winter here ALL year. We actually do get people who arrive here in the summer and effectively brought snowsuits with them #-o For a very funny list of questions people were asking when we hosted the Vancouver Olympics (and awesome answers to those questions), see this site. And its not just Americans. There are questions from a few countries on there.

Oh, for sure stress can have a huge impact on your health. Given enough time, it can shorten your life through factors such as reduced immune system performance, and just general being unwell. Stressed out people just seem to die sooner. As it relates to the point I was trying to make though, both types of dependancy will lead to stress when you quit, but physical addictions have other physical, biological effects on your body, some of which are potentially fatal, and in a much shorter time span than stress. The fastest way for stress to kill you would be to make you suicidal, but I imagine that either type of addiction could lead down that path if its bad enough. I guess my wording might have left something to be desired, so I'll edit in a clarification before that gets quoted as is. Also, I am not referring to any particular type of drug in particular. An example though would be the very common corticosteroid prednisone. While this particular drug forms no real dependency that you would ever be aware of (except for generally causing fatigue either when weaning off of it or if you stop taking it all together), coming off of it too quickly can very easily land you in the hospital. Your body makes about 5mg of the hormone a day by default, but will stop making it all together as soon as you take more than that through medication (and people on it are normally at doses that are 8-12x what your body normally makes). The hormone is responsible for regulating parts of your immune system, in particular the parts that allow it to recognise and respond to threats. While a high dose is used to suppress certain immune responses, a total lack of the hormone can cripple your immune system to certain threats until your body starts making it again. Someone who goes from say a 40mg dose per day to nothing, and they gets an infection, is going to be totally unable to mount a normal response. Without the intervention of other drugs to try and make your immune system fight, this can cause an infection that would otherwise go away on its own to become life threatening. Probably not the best example, especially for the purposes of this thread since the drug has no recreational use for most people (it provides some people with an enormous energy boost when they start on it. Some people have used this phenomenal burst of energy to do things like scrub their shower with a toothbrush for 4 hours strait), but its a drug where I am reasonably confidant I actually know what I am talking about, without needing to brush up on it.