Mythological Beast

This is a bizarre thing that I don't understand. Robin Williams' character is a central plot point of the movie, and he spends a significant amount of time on screen. And yet he isn't in the first run credits. Any idea why? Did he not want to be associated with this part or something?

I have a hamster that really enjoys chewing on USB cables when I let him wander around on my desk. Will that hurt him? If not, does anyone see any problem with me tossing an unused one in his cage?

No, I'm not a student, I'm just trying to figure out a mechanical system. Please let me know what formulas you used to derive your answer.

I have an unusually diverse music collection that I use for a broad variety of uses. I would like to be able to categorize it by specific use (e.g. relaxation, party-energy, party-dance, party-cooldown, conversational-background, thunderous-ambience). Many of the tracks would wind up falling into multiple categories, but I'd like to be able to apply all appropriate to them. Does anyone know of a music tracking software that does this?

Doing some art work with platters from defunct hard drives, and I'd like to try acid etching. Ideas welcome.

I met a girl who was wearing a necklace that was a horse shoe nail on a heavy cord. My daughter asked her where she got it, and she said it was very important and her church gave it to her. I didn't want to press her for details, but I was wondering what the significance of it was. I recognize a "nail of the cross", but usually I just see crosses made out of nails, or see actual farriers wearing them, not just a single nail. Can anyone tell me why she considers it so important?

When you are in love with someone, how does it change your behavior? I'm not talking about mooning over the person or walking with a lighter step, I want to know how that love changes your treatment of that person, your decisions about what to do with the rest of your life, and your treatment of other people.

Probably a bit obscure, but I'm trying to find out the relative execution speed between Transactional SQL stored procedures and compiled languages like C++. Does it interpret them every time? Does it compile them to byte code or machine code and store them that way? How does it work?

For instance, in the following code:

void DoSomething(int worthless, char *format, ... )

{

char stackbuffer[50000];

sprintf(stackbuffer,format,somethingelsegoeshere);

do yet more things

}

What would the proper format be for doing this? Please, I know that variable args are bad, but my boss says otherwise.

This one's been bugging me for a while, and I want to confirm when it's safe. For instance:

doSomething(std::string("this is a string1"));

When does the string get destroyed and deallocated?

There's a line that every single one of us can draw down our bodies that divides where the left-side neurons meet the right side neurons. Is there a name for that line?

The company I work for still seems rather enthused about them despite their noted unreliability, but I can't quite remember exactly when people started declaring their use to be a bad coding practice. Any guesses? For those scratching their heads, I'm talking about C++'s printf-style functions.

I dream lucidly fairly often, and I've also noticed that I need more sleep than the typical person. Is there a connection between those?

There are a few obvious cases, like leprosy, that were for a very long time considered a sign of disfavor of the gods. Many forms of madness were considered a lack of desire to face reality until we figured out that they were actually chemical imbalances. What other maladies have been thought to be the cause of personality flaws instead of being actual physical issues?

I've been putting away dependent care money based on the knowledge that I would have to spend more of it when summer vacation hit. My company laid me off at the end of May, leaving about $1400 unspent in my dependent care account. They tell me that I can only claim expenses that happened before I was laid off, and that they'll keep the rest.

Is this legal? Can I get my money back? I'm in Colorado.

Can a couple resolve serious marital problems if neither of them is allowed to discuss those problems with others? Is this healthy? Is this recommended?

I would like to take pictures of business cards with my camera phone so I don't have a dozen of them in my pocket at the end of an event. I've seen macro lenses for iPhone, but not for any other kinds of cell phones. In theory, all I would need is a lens of the correct diopter held at the correct distance to make this work. Could anyone tell me how to calculate this and find the right sized lenses so I can just build an housing that will hold it at the right distance?

About once every other week, my legs will jitter and shake while I'm trying to sleep. They continue doing this after I'm asleep, sometimes keeping my wife awake. Is there anything I can do about this?

I'm currently trying to decide between a Honda Accord and a Toyota Camry. One of the differences between the two is that the Camry has environmental controls for the back seats, and the Accord doesn't. I don't think I've sat in the back seat of a car for at least five years, so I am not a good judge of how important that is. My kids spend something like a third of my driving time back there.

So the question: How significant are they? How much difference do they make? Does it actually make a difference, or is it an executive monkey button to fiddle with when you're uncomfortable?

I'm in a programming shop where the majority of the programmers are inexperienced or never really made the transition from C to C++. Our code base is in C++, but they continue to use macros and preprocessor replacements because it makes the code easier to write.

Unfortunately, it makes the code harder to maintain. I know that this is the standard belief throughout most of C++, but the only solid reference I have to that is in Stroustrup's initial statement of such. Is there anyone who has given the thought serious consideration since then?

Specifically, I'm in the minority here, and I'm looking for solid arguments beyond "isn't this obvious to everyone?"