Tao

I'm in an apartment and can't use a ceiling mount. I've been looking into getting a heavy bag with stand and I'm not sure how they'd hold up to kicks and knees. I've heard the stand can snap. It's only for fun/fitness but I've been thinking about it for a while. Any suggestions?

I'll be in St Louis for a couple hours late in the evening and I was hoping to try some good St Louis food. Somewhere that delivers late would be ideal. I want to taste what St Louis has to offer in the limited time I'll be there so if there is anything iconic, that would be best. Thanks.

I thought about crumbling some bacon and folding it with, say, maple flavoured fondant and rolling and dipping it in dark chocolate.

I've never tried anything like this with bacon before. Would it go bad? Would it need to be refrigerated? Would I have to candy the bacon first? Any idea about shelf life?

Thanks.

The other day (Saturday) while climbing on some rocks I stubbed my knee pretty hard. When I say stubbed I mean I was on all fours crawling horizontally and kneed a rock with quite a lot of force. I don't recall hearing a pop but it made a funny sound and it felt very weird. There was a pretty nasty gash which bled immediately. The impact was at the top of the knee, right about at the top of the patella and the force would have gone down into my calf as my knee was bent.

I experienced a little dizziness which cleared quickly. I was able to continue my hike though it was difficult to put weight on that leg while it was bent and I found myself limping a fair bit.

Now, it is quite swollen and the deep bruising is rising to the surface all around the knee. If I keep my leg still, it barely hurts at all. I can walk on it although with a limp. That said, if I have it bent for a considerable period of time (ie, sitting) and I try to straighten it (ie, stand up) the pain is excruciating. Likewise, it hurts to bend it if it has been straight for a while. It is too swollen to be able to feel around to see what exactly hurts. The pain is rather sharp if I try to touch the bones at the top of the knee.

Given the continuing pain and swelling, I did some reading online and wondered if my patella might be chipped or broken. Any ideas based on what is written here? In the morning I think I will make an appointment to go in and see the doctor. I've decided to see the doctor but I'm curious how adamant to be to see her soon (or go to emergency or something)

Any hints would be welcome and appreciated.

Two weeks ago I took some routine blood tests after visiting the doctor for another issue. Today I got the results of those blood tests which showed high Creatine Kinase (CK) levels. From what I remember it was about 1100 while 'normal' is about 200. (Wiki offers range of 60-400)

The doctor and I are both puzzled as to what might have caused this. Doctor actually asked if I was sure I hadn't had a heart attack. I don't have any heart issues or muscle pain. Not taking any medications beyond a multivitamin and a half serving of protein powder 4-5 times a week.

I was somewhat ill when I had the blood taken. Just a cold.

Only thing I can imagine is I did a few P90X videos the week before the blood tests were taken. From what I remember, the last one was at least 5 days before. I didn't think those workouts were that bad.

The only real symptom I've been feeling in the past few weeks has been a general light headedness. I'd assumed this was just from being tired/stressed.

Any ideas??

On a disused parking lot, I saw what appeared to be an interesting succession story. It appeared as though moss was living on the concrete, likely eroding the concrete. In areas where the moss was particularly wide, there was a different species living in the middle. It appeared to be small and rubbery. It looked like soft little pine cones (sometimes longer) and was a soft, dull green with a dull red around the edges. In areas where this plant was in abundance, the very center had a bit of grass or dandelion.

I am most interested in knowing what that pine cone shaped plant is if anyone has any idea. As you can see, I don't know enough about plant identification to look it up myself.

Thanks.

Or do you prefer the homogametic sex?

I had some stuff in an outside storage container that ended up being there much, much longer than anticipated. I had to throw out a bunch of stuff due to mould/mildew but I have a saucepan that I'd like to keep. Trouble is, it reeks of that mildewy smell. Other than the smell, it looks brand new. I've washed it (with dish soap) about 4 times and have left it soaking in hot water for extended periods of time a few time as well. The smell is still there although not nearly as strong as it was earlier.

Is it salvageable? Is that smell something that can get into the metal? Is there something lurking inside the handle? What can I do to get rid of the smell?

Doing anything special for Mungday tomorrow?

A friend of mine has an Xbox 360 but no Internet access to use to update it. I tried giving him some AVI videos on a USB stick but it didn't work since he didn't have the media update.

If I put the update from here: http://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/system-upda... on my USB stick, can he use that to update his system and be able to play them? Or are there specific updates he's going to need?

I guess the real question is, can I put the update on a USB stick to take to his house or should he come to mine with his Xbox 360 to update it here? The former would be much easier.

Any suggestions or things I might need to know?

You bakers know what I'm talking about. You've cut out dozens of gingerbread cookies in the shapes of ninjas. Some of them broke but they're tough ninjas.

You've got a small ball of dough left over, not enough to roll out for another ninja.. what do with it?

I cut a few small squares to use as 'gift tags' for plates of cookies I give to friends. With the very last bit, I make Mr Hanky (gingerbread) or a finger (shortbread) or something like that... any other ideas?

Gravitationalists, I have proof of Intelligent Falling and proof of FSM's love. You can't deny it.

The reason we all don't fly off into space due to the earth's spinning (you've been on a tilt-a-whirl, right?) is that his sauciness the FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER is holding us down lovingly with his noodly appendage. FSM is holding us down with exactly the perfect amount of loving force that it doesn't hurt us yet we can jump and run around as though we were free. Only FSM could calculate precisely the amount of force to use for each of us. (Lets see your so called gravity do that!) Yet your 'scientists' and gravititionalists deny FSM's love and worship the man who invented gravity, Newton!

But I have proof that you are wrong and that it is FSM holding us down!

Do you not see how when you get tired your head starts to feel heavy? This is due to FSM pushing down on us a little harder to tell us we should go to sleep. It's like FSM is trying to tuck you in! How does gravity know you're tired?

Why do you deny FSM's love?

Life is cyclical. Death for one thing means life for another. We are all food.

If you are religious, why do you feel the need to act as though we are somehow above nature and exempt from its laws? What makes you think you're so special that you are part of some deity's special plan or that you're loved by some deity or that some aspect of you will live forever? Why is the natural human experience not good enough for you?

Have you come up with any truly original ideas or arguments related to the question or nature of the existence of gods? I'm sure you realize the vast majority of what is found in this section is old hat but have you contributed anything fresh and new?

BQ: Have you seen something someone else (on here) had written that you thought was rather innovative?

to take Christmas out of the public square?

Pulse wasn't very good but the only useful thing it did was allow me to keep track and follow up on comments I've left on news articles and various Yahoo blogs I follow.

Supposedly Yahoo! Profiles is an improved version of Pulse and yet it doesn't seem to have this feature. In fact, since I don't particularly want personal information displayed in my profile, all my profile does is display my username and the picture of the avatar. What's the point of that?

My main question is how I can go about seeing a list of comments I have posted on various news articles? Is this even possible any more?

I've been asked to 'tune up' and upgrade a computer that has 2 x 1 GB UNB PC2-5300 Apacer RAM with 2 empty slots. Can I just add any DDR2 and keep what is existing? What, exactly, do I need to get?

What is a good score on Wonderlic for the workforce?

I just did a Wonderlic test as part of a test pre-screening candidates for a job competition. I think I got about a 42. From what I've read online, this seems like a good score but most of the articles are talking about football. Anyone know about percentiles or anything for business or the general population?

Topicality note: didn't get any answers in the 'proper' category so I thought I'd ask, spiritually speaking.

"I believe the Lord God creator of everything and everyone made this wonderful universe perfectly attuned for us to live in. He gave us plants for us to eat and animals for us to name and eat and control. He told us to go forth and multiply so that we may have dominion over the earth he made for us! He calls us the chosen people and he wants us to be with Him in heaven for eternity where we will be with our family and friends. He sent His son down here and His son gave up his life for our sins so we can go to heaven! Don't you atheists get that? God, the most perfect being, gave up his life for OUR SINS! Why would He do all this for us? The very simple reason is that GOD LOVES US. Why are you so arrogant and thinking nothing is bigger than you, it makes no sense at all for you to deny it."

Why are you people so hard on Creationism? Asking for peer review? Really? Some aspects of Creationism should be obvious to everyone. One stark example is its repeatability.

Quetzalcoatl, Awonawilona, Chirakan-Ixmucane, Altjira, Ptah, Nanabozho, Enki, Batara Kala, Tonacatecuhtli, Ta'aroa and Daksha were all gods who created the earth. There were many others who did it as well. Wikipedia even has its own category for creator gods: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Creator_gods So obviously it can be done, it's been done by hundreds of different creator gods.

Just because you can't do it doesn't mean there aren't hundreds who could do it. I doubt many of you have the ability to collide hadrons but that doesn't mean scientists can't. So if all these gods could do it, who is to say one of them couldn't?