Joe

If you plead no contest to charges, then you are not admitting guilt but the judge will likely find you guilty anyways. What is the advantage of a judge finding you guilty versus admitting your own guilt? Does it somehow affect employment prospects or some other aspect of one's life after release from prison?

My wife has a business associate whom I wish to stay on the right side of. Problem is that she is overweight, greasy hair, flat shoes, schlubby clothes yet has the attitude of a supermodel. She appears to feel as if she is far too important to speak to the likes of me (BTW she IS a dot com millonaire). But I need to go to certain social events where she is present, and I definitely do NOT want to screw anything up for my wife.

What is the best way to handle this? The last thing I want to do is to foist my undesired attentions onto this woman, yet if we are stuck next to each other at the same table I want to minimize the awkwardness. How best to go about this?

The first link is a 6 way switch, the second link is a 3 way switch. The 3 way has two positions, on and off. Why call it a 3-way?

I purchased a 3-way switch and it had a picture on the box of a light bulb snuggled between two switches - why call that a 3-way?

https://youtu.be/33Jm1rsM4Yw

So he is not a drinker or a substance user (teetotaler actually), and we have been close friends for 30 years. He runs a company that is not doing so well, so he took up crime to keep the company afloat - a bit like John De Lorean did. Worst of all, he TOLD me that he did so (GRRRR!). He didn't say what kind of crime, but I am pretty sure he runs a stable of drug mules, and is not doing such a good a job of it either.

I feel terrible for his victims, and somewhat bad for his wife and family, but I am his friend to the bitter end. I had initially hoped he would get rich or die trying, but now an ignominious and poverty stricken end in prison looks far more likely. Of course his family will likely lose the house, car, and everything else to asset forfeiture. How should a good friend handle this situation?

I recently paid to be locked up overnight in a simulated prison cell, to see what it was like. It was warm, I had blankets, water, and a bucket. It was very dark and somewhat noisy, but I had a flashlight at my disposal and even an emergency call button. There was no way to escape in case of fire, though.

To my surprise, in the darkness my mind was taken over by chaotic thoughts over which I had very little control. I would turn on the flashlight and settle down some, but the battery life was unknown and I didn't want to run out. Eventually I got no sleep and had a very scary night, but was otherwise OK.

How dangerous is this s***? Was I just scared of the dark, or was I on the verge of insanity? I have never experienced chaotic thoughts before, not even in nightmares. Each thought was basically some random minor event from my past life, completely unrelated to any other. The scary part was the lack of control of my thoughts, which I have also never experienced before.

For some reason, gas stations in Glendale, CA will never let me use their restrooms. They always come up with some excuse like "the restroom is being repainted". This has happened many times.

The last time I thought of just piddling on his gas pump, but the owner followed me outside to check!

I thought of bribing the owner to use the restroom, then reporting him to corporate HQ for accepting a bribe. Anybody got any better ideas?

On or AFTER today's date is easy - just shoot video of today's newspaper. But how can I prove on or BEFORE today's date? One possibility is to take video of a particular tree, which will grow after today's date. But this is not sufficiently accurate, even if the tree does grow and does not die. Does anybody have a better idea?

I need a headline for the following (fictional) newspaper story:

A major aerospace corporation took an inventor to court over a patent issue. In an attempt to impugn the character of the inventor's expert witness, the aerospace corporation asked the opposing expert about kinky stuff he liked to do in the bedroom. The expert refused to answer the question, and was sent to jail for contempt of court.

Imagine this story goes into the Wall Street Journal or something, who can write the best headline? I thought of "AeroCorp A Peeping Tom!" - can anybody do better?

It is pretty obvious that you can cut steel with an abrasive disc. However, I want to use an abrasive drum (around 1/2 inch diameter) to grind a point on the end of a steel rod. (I want to build a machine like a heavy duty pencil sharpener that can sharpen steel rods instead of pencils). But all the drum sanders I can find are for wood, not steel. Anybody know where I can get a suitable abrasive drum? I want the same material as a cutting disc, but in the form of a drum rather than a disc.

There are many civilian and military aircraft that use fly by wire, where sensors in the handle are used to detect pilot input. Does anybody know if any of these incorporate a microprocessor inside the handle itself? Some of them connect to a processor located elsewhere, but I need to find one where the processor is located in the handle itself. For a real aircraft, not a flight simulator.

Or does anybody know of a manufacturer that makes these things?

Thanks.

I am trying to find businesses in CA that are experiencing rapid growth, either in annual sales or in employee count (maybe they just landed a big contract or something). I used to use the now defunct Southern California Business Directory And Buyers Guide.

Can anybody recommend a good replacement?

So there is this rich old guy (85 years old) whom I strongly dislike, but I am forced to attend certain social functions at which he is present.

Always he sticks his hand out expecting me to shake it, then, when I do so, he looks away. I don't want to cause a scene by doing something sophomoric (like spitting at his feet or something) because I need to network with other people at the social function.

But being conspicuously ignored in this way is a pain in the ***. Does anybody have any good ideas for how I can avoid this problem?

I have tried just walking away, but he follows me around until I can walk no more.

BTW This guy's brother was actually a very famous creep, now deceased.

So there is this rich old guy (85 years old) whom I strongly dislike, but I am forced to attend certain social functions at which he is present.

Always he sticks his hand out expecting me to shake it, then, when I do so, he looks away. I don't want to cause a scene by doing something sophomoric (like spitting at his feet or something). But being conspicuously ignored in this way is a pain in the ***. Does anybody have any good ideas for how I can avoid this problem?

I have tried just walking away, but he follows me around until I can walk no more.

BTW This guy's brother was actually a very famous creep, now deceased.