Search results

  1. John Miles

    Don't like having your conversations recorded? Don't shop at Best Buy then!

    When in the world did Best Buy start asking for phone numbers? That happened to me just this evening. I was already under the impression that Best Buy (or at least the Bellevue, WA store) was going for the gold medal in the Olympic shark-jumping contest. An inferior DVD selection (one that...
  2. John Miles

    Night vision questions for everyone - to help re-assure a post lasik surgery patient

    In my opinion... yep. There is no adequate artificial substitute for natural tears, which contain all sorts of agents that promote healing. Your doctor should be the ultimate authority on when you stop using the drops. However, I have never heard of anyone being told to keep using them past the...
  3. John Miles

    Night vision questions for everyone - to help re-assure a post lasik surgery patient

    Since it's been a couple months since surgery, you should probably make a serious effort to wean yourself from the eyedrops. It will be very difficult, because eye drops are just about the most addictive substance on Earth. That may help with some of the symptoms -- it did in my case.
  4. John Miles

    Night vision questions for everyone - to help re-assure a post lasik surgery patient

    I have very large pupils (about 8 mm in a dark room, which I measured preoperatively by holding a ruler up to my eye and shooting it with a flash camera), so I figured I would be trading off some night-vision quality when I had LASIK last May. I'd worn toric soft contacts for 15 years, and...
  5. John Miles

    FCC: Over 99% of indecency complaints are from ONE group

    I changed the post to cite iD Software and Doom because that better reflects the statistics I was able to find quickly. I remember seeing one graph from the FBI that was published in David Grossman's anti-entertainment jeremiad "Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill" that showed the overall national...
  6. John Miles

    FCC: Over 99% of indecency complaints are from ONE group

    They aren't. That's what bugs me about the whole thing: our newfound sense of moral outrage is directed at a perceived statistical problem that doesn't even exist. Do some research before regurgitating what you've heard elsewhere. Right around the time id Software unleashed "Doom" on the...
  7. John Miles

    Help with C Programming Assignment

    That would be like impressing your drill instructor by bringing a live grenade with you to boot camp. :thumbsdown:
  8. John Miles

    So I had LASIC (Pictures, 500K)

    Your vision is likely to fluctuate for at least a few weeks. I could see only 20/30, 20/40 the day after my own surgery in Vancouver BC this year, but within a week to 10 days it zeroed in to around 20/15. At night, the effect is about like wearing moderately-dirty contact lenses. Not...
  9. John Miles

    "Driving 101" or "People Can't drive"

    You didn't; I apologize if I gave the impression you did. However, there's no other explanation for the complaints from folks above who are upset about being passed while merging into traffic. This is a ridiculous thing to complain about. If someone can come up from behind you and keep you from...
  10. John Miles

    "Driving 101" or "People Can't drive"

    You say that like it's a bad thing, but the truth is, excessive timidity on the part of drivers around here (Seattle area) costs us literally millions of man-hours per year stuck in traffic. It is not particularly "safe" to poke along in a merge lane at 30 MPH below the speed of traffic. Your...
  11. John Miles

    "Driving 101" or "People Can't drive"

    Um, here's a helpful hint for those who are complaining of being passed in merging lanes: try the pedal on the right. Thank you, that is all. :)
  12. John Miles

    Idling for several minutes before driving off in cold weather... why?

    Best to let it warm up only a minute or two, then drive away with a light foot on the gas until the oil temp comes up. If you just let the engine idle for long periods in the morning and then drive off normally, you're (a) risking carbon buildup in the engine; and (b) stressing the parts of...
  13. John Miles

    *** Official SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW Discussion Thread

    Well, there's a new one.
  14. John Miles

    What is Corporate Casual?

    On casual Fridays, I sometimes wait until noon before changing out of my bathrobe. :emoji_thumbsup:
  15. John Miles

    What's the difference between a speed hump and a speed bump?

    You could always teach your kids not to play in the street, but I guess that's out of fashion in the current zeitgeist, or something.
  16. John Miles

    I think I'm being taken advantage of by my podiatrist! (LONG)

    Best way to get rid of warts: visit your local welders' supply shop with a metal Thermos in hand, and pay them a few bucks to fill it with liquid nitrogen. (Don't seal the thermos on the way home, for obvious reasons.) Dip a Q-tip in the LN, and, well, you can figure out the rest. And yes, it...
  17. John Miles

    Radar Detectors

    Actually, that's a pretty terrible analogy. Speeding is a victimless crime. If somebody dies, it's because at least one other law was broken, such as "inappropriate speed for conditions." Stealing from stores is not a victimless crime, and it's not something that most people do on a daily basis...
  18. John Miles

    Radar Detectors

    Those deaths are caused by bad drivers, not just fast ones. Think about it: if 60% of highway accidents involve speeding, but 70% of drivers on the highway are speeding, what does that say about speed as a factor in accident risk? When they issue you a radar gun that reads driver IQ rather...
  19. John Miles

    Khef, ka and ka-tet - Any Dark Tower fans excited over Book 5?

    My credit card was charged last week for the Artist Edition of Song of Susannah, so hopefully it will be showing up soon. With Wolves, Grant took their sweet time shipping the Artist Editions out, and it was hard to resist picking up a mass-market hardcover edition while waiting for it. I hope...
  20. John Miles

    Whose been served?

    "Batching" is my #1 complaint in restaurants. This is what happens when a server has several tables to cover, and they don't leave the kitchen until they are ready to advance all the tables to their next state of dining pleasure. A sure sign of batching is a server staggering out of the...
  21. John Miles

    Animal slaughtering...

    My ancestors didn't spend 2,000,000 years clawing their way to the top of the food chain so I could eat tofu.
  22. John Miles

    If I didn't have a Home Theater, I'd.....

    I'd be doing 25 to life in the state penitentiary for murdering obnoxious theater patrons.
  23. John Miles

    Buying a New house that was just built need advice

    It's not a good idea to buy a "spec" home, in my (unfortunate) experience. The builder will have cut every last corner possible to reduce his expenses, up to and including violation of local building codes. Ask me about my $280K house in Austin sometime after we've both had a stiff drink or two.
  24. John Miles

    what does 'got milk?' mean?

    http://images.google.com/images?q=tb...l/rants/images
  25. John Miles

    The Ongoing Mars Explorer Thread

    At some point, we're going to have to quit throwing money away on cut-rate Mars travel packages and do the job right. :frowning:
  26. John Miles

    My Old Trains, RIP

    I don't know anything about trains, but my suspicion is that the new transformer you're using doesn't have the same ratings as the one your trains were designed to run on. It may be too wimpy. Before giving up, I'd look around on eBay for an original transformer, or at least talk with the folks...
  27. John Miles

    Khef, ka and ka-tet - Any Dark Tower fans excited over Book 5?

    Does anyone who ordered the Artist Edition of DT5 from Grant have it yet? I'm a little annoyed at not receiving my order before the standard retail edition hit the shelves.
  28. John Miles

    Any idea where I can find a 50 ohm potentiometer?

    Um, if you try to control 800 mA (or even 1/10 that much) worth of DC fans with a trimmer potentiometer, hilarity (and smoke) will ensue.
  29. John Miles

    What to do with used antifreeze

    You can use it to fertilize your lawn, its not as good as some other stuff but it still works pretty well. I hear used motor oil works much better for this purpose.
  30. John Miles

    Ekornes Stressless Recliner = Heaven?

    I like mine a lot. Good quality -- I've used it as my desk chair on a "daily driver" basis for six or seven years and it's still in good shape. I'll bet they can be had for less money than that, though... surf around on eBay's completed-items search before paying $900.
Top