MdnytTokr

So I was thinking about the movie Gravity (and also some other cheese-ball sci-fi movie I saw called Europa Report). Both movies feature a scene in which a character is thrown of into space without a tether, and only limited oxygen remaining, with virtually no chance of a rescue.

In this situation, the person in the suit, knowing that death was inevitable, would have two choices:

1. Open your helmet to space and die quickly.

2. Allow your suit to run out of oxygen and die more slowly.

Now, it might seem that the faster death would be preferable, but you'd be conscious the entire time. Explosive decompression of your body, however fast, seems like a terribly painful, messy way to go out. I would think you'd be conscious and the entire time your organs are trying to escape your body through your eye-sockets.

On the other hand, what would happen to you body as your run out of oxygen and begin breathing in more carbon dioxide? I would imagine you'd eventually lapse into unconsciousness, and finally die while you're passed out. Probably wouldn't feel a thing, right? Seems like that'd be preferable, assuming I have the biology right.

Can any Bio or Astronomy majors confirm any of this? Am I missing something or do I have this right?

If you start a pot of coffee on a standard, garden variety, Mr. Coffee brewing machine, but instead of waiting for the pot to finish, you pour the VERY FIRST bit of coffee into your cup... that is to say, you wait only long enough for the machine to brew one cup's worth into the pot, and then you pour that into your cup and drink it immediately...

Will that cup of coffee be noticeably stronger than if you had waited to pour until the entire pot brewed? My mother-in-law SWEARS that this cup will NOT be stronger, so when she sneaks the first cup and finds it is WAY too strong, she complains to me that the problem is I'm using too much coffee when I measure out the grounds into the filter. I try to tell her that it's because she refuses to be patient and let the coffee brew until it's done, but she won't have any of it. Naturally, the problem is the amount of coffee I'm using, not her coffee brewing technique.

I've tried crawling the internet for a source with a reasonable amount of credibility, but I've come up empty either way. Can someone provide a source?

I've been out of shape for about 15 years. I am 5'10", and now weigh about 260. I'm 39 years old.

So I've started trying to get some exercise. I don't have money for a gym membership, and I hate running. So here's what I've been doing:

I have a staircase in my house. I walk up and down this one flight of stairs non-stop for 20 minutes. I've been doing this 4 or 5 days per week. I average about 60 - 90 minutes per week, sometimes more, and I'm good sweaty mess every time I finish. Is this a good form of exercise to get me started? My plan is add one minute each week until I'm up to 35 or 40 min, 4-5 times per week. There's a condo complex near my home that has a giant staircase going all the way up a big hill. It's like 20 or 30 stories of stairs, and eventually, I want to be able to take those all the way to the top at a brisk pace. The first time I can do that, I'll probably jump around at the top of the hill like Rocky Balboa.

If I do nothing else but stick to this plan, will I drop some pounds? Or is this not enough to see any weight-loss?

If a person works for a public school district, and is a member of a public employee union, can it cause problems if you apply for or actually get a cannabis card? The rules for the union are that there are no drug tests, but if you get convicted of a drug offense, you will lose your job for at least 5 years. I was just wondering if anyone has any experience with this. Can the school district find out about it if you apply for an receive a card, and/or take action against you?

My initial reaction is that it could be a problem, but the more I think about it, I begin to wonder if a person could actually AVOID a conviction (or even a charge) if one has a cannabis card to explain a small amount of weed (like less than one ounce). I'm hoping for someone with personal experience. Thanks!

I don't really watch basketball, so on the occasions that I do, I often cannot spot certain fouls the way they are called. Blocking and charging, for example, I cannot tell apart.

Can someone please explain the difference to me, and what's the penalty if someone gets called for either one? And please explain it as you would to someone who does not play or watch basketball. I grasp the basic rules of B-Ball, but the intricacies of fouls is hard for me to grasp. A lot of times, I see a foul that is described as "flagrant" and results in an ejection, but to me, it didn't look that bad. There seem to be a few fouls in B-Ball that just seem to be called so the refs can get some TV time. I see fouls called where the announcers are agreeing with the call, but I cannot see what the player did wrong. This is usually the case with charging or blocking. Whenever blocking is called, it almost always looks like charging to me, and vice versa. What do I look for to tell the difference? Or are the NBA refs just that bad (as I've heard players complain) that someone like me who doesn't even watch the game can get calls correct that they are getting wrong?

If you could provide a youtube link to an example of basic charging and another for basic blocking, that'd be awesome. And thanks in advance.

I'm looking for someone who knows the true answer, not just speculation.

How come the Allies didn't carpet bomb the beach-head zone before the Normandy invasion? All those guns on the beach, all those soldiers killed... I was just wondering if there could have been more air support to hit those bunkers and guns before the beach-head. Does anyone know why that didn't happen?

In other words, describe inflation, how it comes about, and then what would make it "artificial?" I have a suspicion that "artificial inflation" is just a made-up phrase that's meaningless, since inflation, whether artificial or otherwise, is still inflation by another name, and brings the exact same results. The effect on the economy isn't any different if inflation is artificial, right? Or not?

I'm reading a book where some corporate heavy-weight types are trying to take over the remnants of a shattered America, and in it, one of the old-guard government cabinet secretaries accuses the corp of "making a run on the dollar," and it's said in a way that made me think this was supposed to be a huge deal, but I didn't really understand the econ jargon.

Then I also read recently in the news that some people fear "a run on Greek banks," due to their economic crisis.

Can someone explain to me what it means to "make a run" on currency or banks? And please explain it as you would to a high school freshman who has never taken an economics class. I understand math and politics, but somehow I made it through college and high school without ever taking an economics course. I understand the BASIC concept of supply and demand, but that's about it.

And thanks in advance!

I realized that the Digitech RP 350 I bought years ago doubles as an interface and also came with a copy of Cubase LE 4. I certainly can install it on my core i7 desktop witout any worries. But do you think my Acer Netbook can run it well enough to get some music made?

It has an Intel Atom 1.6 GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. It's only got 150 GB of hard drive space, but I have an external USB drive as well with plenty of space.

Anyone thinking this might work?

I would like to have another beer. But the rest of the sixer I just bought is all the way over there, in the kitchen, in the fridge. I'm not sure if it's worth the effort.

So tell me... should I go get another? It's Sam Adams. That matters.

I applied for a position with a local school district office recently. After 2 interviews, their HR Director called me to say that I did not get the position, although it was very close. I thanked him, and told them that I hope the person they chose is able to give them what they need. The call ended amicably.

Two business days later, the same HR Director called two of my professional references to ask questions about me. And one of those references of mine had already been called by their office 2 weeks ago, just before my 2nd interview.

Why would the HR Director be checking my professional references AFTER he told me that I didn't get the position? I can think of only three possible reasons:

A. The HR Director is tying up his administrative loose ends, making sure that all professional references were verified before he "closes his file" on me.

B. The person they intended to hire did not accept the offer, and so now they're looking at me again.

C. There is a different position in the office for which I am being considered.

Can anyone think of any OTHER reason why the HR Director would be calling my references AFTER telling me that they chose someone else?

Does this mean I'm back in contention for the job? I personally have not yet heard again from the office, only my references have.

Thanks in advance!

I assume that a person wishing to be seriously considered for employment at one of these SV Tech companies must know several programming languages fluently. Which ones? What other major skills are a must in order to be considered?

I guess I'm also wondering what the day-to-day job is like for someone in the $60K salary range. Do they basically sit and write code all day? Do they work independently or does a manager check on their work every few hours? How often do they have to go to meetings (if ever)?

What's it REALLY like to work there? But the list of skills to learn is the main point of my question.

Thanks in advance.

My boss is insane. She demands schedule changes from an entire department, which is fine, but she'll send an email out a 6:45pm (after everyone has left) telling us that the changes to our schedule needs to be "effective tomorrow."

If you ask her more time, she refuses, and says we should always be prepared to have our schedules adjust at a moment's notice.

She assigns projects in a very general way, never gives any details, hates being pinned down for the sake of details, then chews out everyone in the building when the results do not contain the details she was hoping to get. If anyone ever asks for clarification of anything, they get criticized via global email for "not being on the same page" as her.

If any employee notices a problem that needs to be fixed, that employee will be blamed not only for the problem happening in the first place, but will also be forced to take on the role of making sure it never happens again, whether or not they know anything about the process that caused the problem in the first place.

A fellow employee's mother was in the hospital, and they thought she might not survive, to which this boss commented, "Oh, great! Another distraction."

She micromanages (which is not that big a deal, all bosses do this), but when she micromanages, she makes knee-jerk reactions that change the entire scope of the company because of something she overheard spoken by one entry-level employee one time while in the break room.

She works 80 - 90 hours per week, and expects all managers and supervisors to put in 60+ hours per week at the office, plus telecommute from home, and since we're all on salary, we get no pay for any of this above 40 hours.

I was "promoted" into a position I do not want, am not qualified for, and never expressed the slightest bit of interest in. I was not given a choice. I was told that I simply had to do it, effective "tomorrow." I was not given a raise. I voluntarily gave up my raise last year to help the company, and may have to do the same thing this year. My job description still has not been changed to reflect any of my new duties, which as far as I can tell consist of whatever the boss says to do from one day to the next, without any regular work at all, and with nothing written down.

When I say that she is my boss, I mean she is EVERYONE's boss. She's the CEO, so it's not like I can go to a higher authority.

I appreciate that our company would proabably not exist if she were not such a crabby lioness, but I often feel like we, the people who work for her and keep her company afloat, are treated like part of the problem instead of being treated like the only solution she's got. We all work VERY hard, so I don't like getting screamed at live on our call-center floor (or anywhere else for that matter) for something I don't even understand. After being chewed out by her, I am always more confused than I was before.

I would look for another job, and I have looked (and was interviewed by another company), but right now there's so many people out of work and willing to work for less than I'm making, it seems like my only alternative is to suck it up and take the abuse until the job market actually shows some spark of life. I would even take a cut in pay, but I do still have a family to support. Still I'm not finding anything else. I suppose I'm lucky to be working at all right now.

Since this is basically the only company I've ever worked for other than the U.S. military, I was wondering if other people out there might have similar horror stories.

If I'm thinking about filing for bankruptcy in California, how much will it cost me? And just as important, what kinds of documents and info should I have prepared before I meet with a bankruptcy lawyer?

My fiancee has a daughter that is disabled enough to qualify for SSI benefits at 5 years of age. She has only one hand, and is extremely visually impaired, and has facial paralysis on one side, as well as a complete lack of muscle development on the right side of her chest.

The child's biological father passed away when she was less than a year old, so her mother applied for SSI benefits for her and got them, to the tune of about $730 per month.

Then she met me, and we're about to get married. Will the child lose her benefits because I bring in more money each month? The child's disability is not ever going to go away, and her visual problems are degenerative (she may lose her sight completely one day). But from what I can tell on the SSA website, it seems like they will take my income into account.

Does anyone have any actual experience with this, as opposed to just reading it on a website? Does the income of step-parents count towards SSI benefits?

Thanks!!

Brand new:

Intel Core i5 2.8GHZ Processor

4 GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM (expandable to 16GB)

1TB 7200rpm Hard Drive

22x DVD RW Drive

EVGA 1GB DDR3 nVidia GeForce GTS 250 PCI express Video Card

Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse

Windows 7 Home Premium, with disk, Full version

Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 Motherboard with 7 USB, 2 PCI-e (SLI ready) and 2 PCI slots, integraged 1GB Ethernet, and integrated 5-channel audio, 6 SATA connections

650W Power Supply

ASUS 20" LCD Monitor

All parts brand new, nothing used or refurbished. NO WARRANTY.

If you had the money, would you pay $1,800 for this? If not, how much?

Honesty preferred, since I'm not actually selling a PC like this now. Just trying to determine a price range.

I see advertisements everywhere for these products that promise to help you beat a drug test. Most people I know would be too scared to actually ever rely on one without knowing it would actually work for a daily marijuana user. Does anyone know for sure if these things really work? Assume that you'd have to be confident enough to bet your job on it.

Thanks!

My 5 year old daughter is starting to show an interest in video games. As a gamer myself, I'm okay with this in princicple, but she has no fingers on her right hand due to a genetic disorder.

Since she has digits on only one hand, playing on an Xbox or and PS model is something she can''t really do. Which brings me to the Wii.

I've never played on one, or used one ever. I've heard that it uses some kind of motion sensing technology. But the design of it also seems to assume that the player would hold two controllers, one in each hand. Right?

Can a Wii owner help me out by telling me if there are any games in the Wii catalogue that might be playable for a user with only one hand? Any of the Wii Sports games? Golf? Bowling?

So I bought all the original Transformers comics back in the early 80's when they were first marketed. I have issues #1 through #62 (plus GI Joe vs. The Transformers #1 thru #4), all have been stored in a cool, dry, dark place for the last 25 years, and all have been stored in plastic liners with cardboard backings. I'd say that every single one except for issue #3 is in near mint (or possibly mint) condition. #3 is siginificant because it guest starred Spiderman from his Venom suit days. On that issue, the center page has come off the lower staple, but other than that it's perfect.

According to ebay, CGC rated Transformers #1 can go for about $200 just by itself. Mine are NOT CGC rated, and I'd rather not have to deal with that, but I do want to offload the entire lot in one big shot.

I'm aware that I won't get the same amount of money as if I sold them one at a time, but I still should be able to get a respectable amount of money, right? What do you think would be a good asking price for everything I described. I'm thinking that $1,000 should be a good place to start, and I'm hoping that someone with some experience in this matter can tell me if I'm in the ballpark or if I'm totally out of my mind. If I'm way off, then can you also suggest what I should be asking?

Many thanks!!!