Kevin Vance (friends of)

What commercial do you absolutely hate?

So you have a friend who you consider your best friend.  you have been friends for about 5 years and 'best' friends for  about 2 1/2 years.
You and this friend have talked about wanting to live together and have tons of awesome plans for the future, but now you find yourself not wanting to be this persons friend anymore.  Everyone is telling you to stay friends with this friend because "They don't understand they're hurting you!", but that doesnt seem like a good reason.

( heres a list of things your 'best' friend does everytime you see them: )

tl;dr: You buy your friend nice stuff, you throw her parties, she cannot be bothered to lend you $.50cents. You comfort your friend when her boyfriend leaves her,  when your boyfriend leaves you she rubs her boyfriend in your face.  Your best friend sleeps with your exes and waits till your lonely to tell you about it.


how do you deal with this? Do you stop being her friend?

I feel like I should keep her my friend because of how long iv'e known her but all she does is  leech off me and make me angry/upset.
I just dont know what to do.

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art, writing

To those with any artistic bent:

Do you think you do your best work with planning and mapping out your way, or is it sudden with a burst of inspiration? If the former, how do you stretch out the initial inspiration into a finished piece you had to do over time?

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asked a billion times before, food & drinks

How do you like your coffee? [black, with sugar, etc.]. If you don't like coffee, what do you prefer to drink?

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2009/12/it-was-a-very-good-year.html

• 23:56 948 sales for the immortal defense pay what you want sale -- i hope i reach 1000 by sale's end XD - bit.ly/4Xrcu8

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saturated dreamers

- made about a fourth of one area, with my 3 year old nephew's help (there was a family gathering at my sister's house which involved 2-hour long car rides, so...)

I have about 6 cans of frosting sitting in my fridge downstairs. What should I do with them? We're sick of cookies and we won't be making any cakes soon because we're still on a sweet overload from Christmas.
Serious and non-serious answers welcome. Bonus points for pictures.

What is the most extreme cosmetic thing you have done to your body?

I can't help but feel as though, as my life situations have improved and my spirits have risen, I've gotten, intellectually speaking, dumber. I no longer feel as creative, I hardly indulge in the kind of mentally challenging activities I once did (namely school, since I've graduated,) and I think I've even lost a few points on my IQ.

Does that make any sense?

By any means do you believe that there is truth in ignorance being blissful?

Inspired by the fact that it seems my LJ posts have grown increasingly more simplistic and light hearted as I've gotten older, as opposed to my highly thought provoked entries from even just a year ago when all I remember is constantly feeling miserable.

If you had to leave town for about 10 days, and needed to have someone take your cat and take care of it, how much per day or in sum would be appropriate to compensate them for it? How much would you want if you were doing it? The relationship to the person taking care of the cat for you would be a co-worker/acquaintance, not someone you have hung out with per se.

http://www.crummy.com/2009/12/29/1

Gaze with me into the mists of OPML... these are the weblogs I'm happiest I subscribed to in 2009. Again, not as many as in 2008.

• Sisoid's Blog of Geekery, featuring obsessive reviews of comic books and Star Trek ephemera. For instance, did you know that Cremaster 3 is not just a ripoff of Donkey Kong, it's a ripoff of an old Conan the Barbarian comic? Conan? Conan!
• The Daisy Owl web comic.
• The Geek Feminism Blog, now with extra Sumana.
• The Physics arXiv Blog.
• Two game-related weblogs: Hardcore Gaming 101 and The Grind.
• Objectively speaking, Baking Bites needs to be on this list, even though I'm not sure when I subscribed to it. Pretty much every recipe on that site is something I want to make, and often I do make it, to great acclaim.
• One of my goals in 2009 was to seriously learn about the pop culture of the 1970s, instead of dismissing it as an era covered in fake wood paneling and drenched in canola oil. My Retrospace has done... something to inform me about this time. I can't say I agree with the writer's conviction that the 1970s were the pinnacle of pop culture, but it's always good to read people with whom you disagree.
• Twitter update! So many people started using Twitter and Identica this year (even Sumana!) that my anti-Twitter position seems more William F. Buckley-esque by the day. I now subscribe to several Twitter feeds and it's possible that in the coming year I will even post. If nothing else, it seems like the simplest way to have a conversation with Kris.

  When "...Awesome Dinosaurs" was published I started searching Twitter for the phrase "awesome dinosaurs" to find people talking about the story, and I never stopped. The story talk died out months ago, but now it's a never-ending celebration of dinosaurs and their awesomeness.

( Read more... )


Do you get pink sock?

[inspired by tma's post]

Have you caught yourself referring to next year as "oh-ten?"

I was flipping channels and came across the scene in Angel Eyes where Jennifer Lopez and Jim Caviezel are in a jazz bar dancing. Jim Caviezel's character goes up on stage, picks up the abandoned trumpet and plays this gorgeous, mournful tune. He starts out solo then another band member duets with him on a flute, in the lower range.

Can anybody tell me what the tune was? I'll try to find a YT clip or something if it helps. I know the movie is probably neither popular nor much good :s I just happened to be trying to figure out why dude was twitching his fingers on her back when he was dancing with her, and then when he picked up the trumpet it all became clear.

I can tell you that in PIANO pitch (C-scale) it's in Eb minor... relatively slow and slightly dissonant... and the trumpet and flute melodies alternated - Caviezel's character would play a line, holding the last note, then the bandmate would play a countermelody ending on a slightly dissonant note, and so forth.

It's a friggin heartrending song and I want to find it.

Thanks!

edit: Does Nature Boy sound right? (scroll down to comments) I won't be home for a few hours to check but does my description match the tune? The Wiki would seem to answer positively, but I have no idea whether there were any similar scenes in the movie (and have very little interest in watching the whole thing for research purposes... ~lol~)

Current Mood

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crazy

If I am applying for a certain position, but I would be interested doing anything else I qualify for...how do I state that on a job application under position?

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twitter

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

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photography & cameras, this is useless without pics

Do you find that the pictures you take of you and the pictures other people take of you end up looking like two totally different people?


Bonus points if you post a picture of yourself that you took, and a picture of yourself that someone else took in the comments. Extra bonus points if you reply to other people's comments and point out how similar/not similar the photos in their comments look.

Current Music

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Faith No More - Anne's Song | Powered by Last.fm

Can I call this decade beginning the onesies?

Have you ever tried these Blu cigarettes? What did you think of them?

Current Music

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KiloWatts & Vanek - After You | Powered by Last.fm

Poll #1504886
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 117

How do you pronounce 2010 when talking about the year?

How does this differ from the way you say "2009" ?

Bonus question for the comments: What do you think the two decades at the start of the century should be called? 20s onwards seems easy (Twenties, Thirties, etc) but what fits best for you in the first two decades? Noughties? Tens?

Bonus question two: Do you know the cult reference in this post?

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2009/12/personals_from_psych.html

Adverts from psychologists in the Personals section of the New York Magazine.

Marriage-Minded Jewish Doctor - Successful. 43-year-old behavioral psychologist and entrepreneur. I'm 5'11", slim, considered handsome, and have many diversified social and cultural interests. More importantly, others judge me to be warm, sensitive, romantic, altruistic and capable of great love and devotion. I'd love to hear from you if you are a highly educated, emotionally mature woman, interested in a relationship leading to marriage. 9896

Slender, Dark-Haired, Very Pretty - Bright, funny psychologist, young 37, blues and jazz fan, seeks witty, sane, attractive man, 30-45. NYM M182

Your Mother's Dream: 28, handsome, caring Jewish psychologist. Into Jazz, arts, sports. Seeks and interesting attractive woman. Photo/phone. NYM H108

Dynamic, Attractive Psychologist - Seeks secure Jewish man: 30's. Be sincere, successful and witty. Enjoy NYC and nature. Bio/photo/phone. NYM S910

Tall, Slender, Attractive - Intelligent Black woman, 36, PhD psychologist, seeks warm, emotionally mature, active, successful, professional man, 30-46. Nationality unimportant. Please send letter, photo, phone. NYM B395

Affectionate, Attractive, Caring - Older NJ psychologist seeks attractive woman for a loving, enduring relationship. Please include photo and phone. NYM B341

Beautiful, Slim Jewish Divorcee - 45, successful female media psychologist with private practice, seeks male with usual demographics - but believes in chemistry above all. 9778

Handsome Psychologist - Sincere, down-to-earth, looking for bright attractive woman, 30-45. Photo. 4338

Very Attractive Single Woman - Psychologist / writer, seeks leftist man who is fit, funny and fortyish. NYM P036

Tanglewood anyone? - Lovely picnic, Boston Symphony... Engaging, cheeky LI psychologist, pretty, trim, 60s, understated, seeks like male. 5209

Woman Psychologist - 37, blond, sexy, great sense of humor, optimistic, love to cook and loves the outdoors, down-to-earth, voracious reader, whimsical. I am looking for a sensitive, sexy, successful, witty, generous, smart, kind man who wants an intimate relationship. If this is you, please send a note. 8477

True Romance - Desired by psychologist 44, 5'7", brown hair, serious artist - with pretty woman, intelligent, passionate, self-reliant, beautiful eyes, sexy smile, any race or age. Please write. 6806

Sensual-Spirited Psychologist - 40something, 5'5" brunette seeks handsome, humorous, honest professional with strong Jewish consciousness, family values and love of the arts - for joyful, marriage-minded relationship. 4148

Slim Pretty, Jewish Widow - Psychologist, 48; strong cultural interests, liberal politics. Enjoys country, beach. Intelligent, sensitive, emotionally stable woman seeks make counterpart to share life. Photo?/bio/phone. NYM G404

Attractive Psychologist, Male - 38, warm, funny, smart and successful would like to meet a truly beautiful woman (both inside and outside) under 34. Photo much appreciated. NYM G423

Successful Male, PhD, Psychologist - 41, 5'10", slim, warm, caring, sensitive, health conscious, non-smoker, Jewish (not religious). Seeks vivacious, tender, professionally accomplished woman with depth and emotional resources open to becoming best friend/lover/wife. NYM V320

Pretty School Psychologist - Caring, slim, Jewish woman, 36, with zest for the outdoors, seeks thoughtful, active, attractive, professional man, 35-45, for long-term. Note/photo please. 8624

"How But In Custom - And in ceremony are innocence and beauty born?" Jewish psychologist, 36, bright, verbal, attractive, a lover of Yeats, seeks man with romantic heart and high values. NYM K142

Send No Photo - Warm, loving, attractive, sexy psychologist, mother, 47, seeks professional man, 45-58, who values honesty, closeness, simple pleasures. Appreciate meaningful reply. NYM R372

Did Akmal Shaikh deserve to be executed this morning?

My own opinion - no.  The international drugs trade has hardly fallen to its knees since - the people who smuggle drugs are never the people who are really behind international drug smuggling operations, usually just vunerable people who are taken advantage of.  Drugs will always be a problem, until those who are actually behind international dealing are caught.   I don't agree with capital punishment under any circumstances, but we live in a world where people rape and murder their own children.  How can drug smuggling be a capital offence?  Hardly in the same league.

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ama questions to which nobody will reply

Do any of you know how long the application process is to become a TSA screener? How long does it take for them to do a background and credit check?

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food & drinks, holidays

What foods do your normally eat on New Year's eve? (If you celebrate that type of thing, of course) Do you usually have a fancy dinner or do you stick to trashy appetizers that go well with alcohol?

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2009/12/ten_to_know.html

The Brainspin blog has a list of 'Ten Psychology Studies from 2009 Worth Knowing About' that covers a mix of well-known studies and hidden gems from the last year.

The descriptions, as you might expect, are a little brief and give just the punchline without some of the possible drawbacks but all are linked to the original study so you can them in full (well, at least as far as your access allows).

One of my favourites was number 7, which provides evidence against the common idea that people who connect better with others might be better at detecting lies:

A study in the journal Psychological Science tested the hypothesis that emotional mimicry—the tendency to mirror the emotions of someone we’re interacting with—makes it difficult to identify liars. Nonmimickers were significantly better at identifying liars than mimickers, and thus were harder to fool with the old flim flam sales routine. The reason is that mimicry reduces psychological distance and lowers defenses. Even if someone probably isn’t lying to you, it’s best to keep the cushion in place just in case.

Link to 'Ten Psychology Studies from 2009 Worth Knowing About'.

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2009/12/i-ended-up-watching-evolution-on-wgn-late-last-night-i-hadnt-seen-it-since-it-first-aired-so-id-forgotten-that-it-was-more.html

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2009/12/going_gently.html

The New York Times has an sensitive and in-depth article about the difficult decision to administer strong sedative drugs to terminally ill patients to ease their suffering at the expensive of potentially quickening their death.

It is, in all but one respect, a very good article, however it does contain a monumentally stupid paragraph:

For pain, the guidelines list opioid drugs, including morphine, methadone and fentanyl.

Doctors say that other drugs used for sedation are ketamine, an anesthetic and sedative popular at rave parties, and propofol, an anesthetic, which was ruled, with lorazepam, to have caused Michael Jackson’s death. In very high doses, sodium thiopental is used as a sedative in the three-drug combination used for lethal injections.

You could link almost any drug (or indeed, any substance - table salt - for example) to some nefarious use or lethal outcome. In fact, some of the most demonised street drugs - heroin and cocaine - have common and legitimate medical uses.

Medicine is always a case of balancing the positive and negatives of any treatment for the benefit of the patient. Context-less examples tell us nothing about this balance.

Other than that, the article is very good and really gets to the core of why end-of-life sedation is such as difficult topic, both emotionally and medically.

Link to NYT article 'Hard Choice for a Comfortable Death: Sedation'.

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television

What was/is the better show: Junkyard Wars or Mythbusters?

Current Mood	:	tired
Current Music	:	Statix - Purgatory | Powered by Last.fm

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dreams & nightmares

Have you ever had a lucid nightmare? What was it about/like?


( Read more... )

Current Mood

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curious

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food & drinks

Is there any kind of food that you snack on during the day?

I eat fruits, like peices of apples, oranges, etc. most of the time. Sometimes if there isn't any of that I have chips or crackers.

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sex & sexual preferences

Is there a polite way to ask/discover/divine whether an acquaintance is gay?

http://www.crummy.com/2009/12/29/0

No 2009 gallery today. Instead, it's a transatlantic museum showdown. In which museum was I able to take more cool pictures in 2008, the British Museum or the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Which museum-filling technique yields better artifacts: imperialist exploitation or robber-baron bequests? Whose cuisine will reign supreme?

vs.

I think I prefer the British Museum set, but that's because I see most of the best things in the Met set (the hilarious Book of the Dead translations, the ink cakes) every few months. Highlights: the Japan-Manchukuo Fraternity Board Game and Pieter van Laer's "Magic Scene with Self-portrait", which I'm glad I photographed in 2008 because I'm pretty sure the Met rotated it back into long-term storage.

There's at least one set of sculptures split between the museums: look in the background here and then here.

do you know of any movies from probs the 80’s-90’s that have a small boy and a unicorn in it???

Im trying to fine this movie from way back that has a boy and a unicorn in it, the boy rescues this horse, (made to look like a unicorn from one of those fairs that have make believe creatures in it), the horse gives birth, but somehow dies, the boy ends up looking after the baby, but the baby horse turns out to be a unicorn, but people find out about this unicorn and try to capture it

I have no idea whether any of the above is correct but it is what I can remember about the movie. its really pissed me off that I don’t know what its called, so if you have any idea, or you think you might know please tell me :)

 Hello there AMA

I am traveling to the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Hongkong in January 2010 on a cruise for 14 nights.

I'm looking for some handy hints to getting around these places, what to beware of, good bargains, must see places...

What ever you know about these places, let me know

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2009/12/from-the-vault-maybe-you-can-just-enjoy-the-tour.html

THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE ARE OVER

(I'm 25)

So, what was your biggest regret in 2009? 

Who is the most embarrassing famous-person you've been told you look like?

Someone told me I looked like Balloon Boy's mom.

What projects or feats do you plan to take on in 2010?

Here's mine, the 365-day movie project.

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saturated dreamers

- noticed a bug that unicorns no longer display their colorful trail, will need to fix that
- made new area
- made new area
- finished earlier area
- added a subtle (perhaps too subtle?) effect to indicate passability near edges of the room (pictured; it's at the top)

gonna try to increase this to 3 areas a day, 2 is too few

What are some songs that have titles that would apt/odd/ironic based on their placement on an album?

My playlist so far:

1) "The Beginning" by Seal
2) "Song 2" by Blur
3) "Three" by Massive Attack

x) "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World


y) "The End" by The Doors

For some reason I can't think of now, I bought a ton of instant pudding that was on sale a few weeks ago at the grocery store. So now, I have a pantry full of pudding and nothing really to do with it.

Aside from the just adding it to a pie crust, what should I do with my pudding? I have vanilla, chocolate, white chocolate, and butterscotch.

God, I fail so hard. Scratch that. What kind of food are you going to be having on New Year's Eve?

My boyfriend had a huge crush on me when we first met and, after a while, I agreed to date him. He was really happy in the beginning. He'd tell me I was "the best girlfriend ever." We left for Winter Break and he stopped talking to me. I tried to text him but unless I asked him a direct question he doesn't text me back. I've tried a couple of times to ask him a couple questions via text and, if he's responding quickly (within a minute) I'll ask if I can call him so we don't have to keep texting and he'll ignore it and I won't hear from him until I text him with another question days later. I'm still at my mother's place for break. I want to go home to my apartment but I promised him I'd attend a New Years Eve party in his hometown, which is 3 times closer to my mother's place than my apartment. His friend is picking me up on Thursday but every time I ask my boyfriend what time he just says "I dunno."

What do I do? I'd like to talk to my own boyfriend after not seeing him for a couple weeks. I know he isn't busy, his Facebook updates say so. I'm stuck at a place that has none of my stuff in it for the sake of doing something for him. It feels really unfair and it feels weird considering he seemed so happy with me in the beginning. Can someone hate talking on the phone THAT much?

My husband and I have pretty much written off the Christian religion. Neither of us have any desire to be a part of it anymore. He is pretty close to being an atheist at this point. My question is:

If you went from believing to not, how did you deal with people who did and wanted to talk to you about it?

How did you deal with family members?

I'm very very bored, can anyone give me some of your favorite shows from the 90's that aren't played anymore, that I can watch on youtube?

How would you pronounce the number of next year, "Twenty-ten" or "Two thousand ten?"
I've heard both floating around. I use "two thousand ten" myself.

Does Vodafone offer a method of number blocking? I have someone sending me abusive txts and would prefer to not have to deal with them at all rather than simply deleting each one.

I am considering buying a cast iron skillet with some of the money I got for Christmas.  Do any of you have one?  Is it as awesome as the people on Food Network would have me believe?  Are the seasoning and cleaning processes difficult or bothersome? 

I was thinking about this one:
www.amazon.com/Lodge-Logic-12-Inch-Pre-Seasoned-Skillet/dp/B00006JSUB/ref=sr_1_1
but I'm open to brand suggestions if you have them.

location	:	Bridgeport, CT
Current Mood	:	contemplative
Current Music	:	Food Network

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tech support, we are not tech support

So I have this:
and this:


& the iTrip does not work in my car.  I live in the second biggest city in Indiana so maybe it is a radio/blank station issue?  It works on most stereos at my house, though and I have had friends with aux hookups for their ipods that work GREAT in their cars.


I am wondering what my best option is since I will be returning my iTrip.