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syscall girl posted:I think there was more of a stink about kids potentially swallowing them and having the balls get in different parts of their intestines and then pinching and creating a lack of blood flow, cutting a hole and leading to septic shock. At least in the US. It looks like the Buckyballs videos are taken down, but the Zen Magnets one is still up here. I thought it was just the claims about quality, but if you watch the first minute you can hear a very professional voicemail about lawsuits left by a Buckyballs employee (who brags about his now non-existant $20 million company). And then the other guy responds snarkily. It really just seems like all manufacturers of tiny strong magnets are dicks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Tka4NUmUo I totally get all of the actual safety legal stuff though. Me and my buddies bought some bar neodymium magnets off eBay in middle school and man did we almost destroy many various fingers and objects. If you kept them in an outside pouch of your backpack it would randomly grab onto lockers.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 06:42 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 06:01 |
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Honey Badger posted:Maybe an odd request, but does anyone have any insight into capital punishment? In particular, I'm interested in the perspective of the people that have to carry out the death penalty; I've seen a few documentaries and such about the life of prisoners on death row, but realized I've never seen anything about the people that have to enforce the sentence. This is neither a stupid nor a small question. Take this the D&D or GBS
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 06:46 |
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Craiggers posted:Can anyone suggest a good alternative to Buckyballs? My coworker had a set that were stolen off his desk and I'd like to replace them, but it looks like you can't buy the Buckyball brand anymore. There seem to be lots of alternatives but a lot of them look sketchy to me. I got these for my nieces, they worked just fine and rather cheap compared to the original. Ed: Amazon has them (Buckyballs) Edit again for s/s question: Is there a site out there that will tell you roughly how many people in the world (or the US, lowering my expectations) have a given surname? Tad Naff fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Feb 19, 2013 |
# ? Feb 19, 2013 06:47 |
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Honey Badger posted:Maybe an odd request, but does anyone have any insight into capital punishment? In particular, I'm interested in the perspective of the people that have to carry out the death penalty; I've seen a few documentaries and such about the life of prisoners on death row, but realized I've never seen anything about the people that have to enforce the sentence. I remember seeing a piece in, I believe this movie, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192335/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 where they talked to the guy who pulled the electric chair switch and he was basically like "It means nothing to me. Going to the fridge and getting out a beer is basically the same."
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 07:03 |
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FeloniousDrunk posted:I got these for my nieces, they worked just fine and rather cheap compared to the original. This'll help you for the US. http://howmanyofme.com/ There's no database of everybody in the world, so you're less likely to have luck there.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 07:33 |
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Mescal posted:This'll help you for the US. You have a point, regarding my larger wish. But thanks, tonight I was just wondering whether there were any extant Lincolns. Apparently there are 18,785 of them.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 08:00 |
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FeloniousDrunk posted:You have a point, regarding my larger wish. But thanks, tonight I was just wondering whether there were any extant Lincolns. Apparently there are 18,785 of them. I've met a fair number of Lincolns and never thought it was a particularly rare name. (None of them were related to Honest Abe) There are only 3,745 people in the US with my last name... and I know about a dozen of them. Go figure. My best friend's last name is apparently only attached to 230 people and I've met probably 50 people in his family with that last name. I wonder how accurate this site is. Huh, my friend's roommate's name is only attached to 117 people and I know seven people in his family with that name. I guess odds are that anybody I meet with his last name is a relative of some kind. tarepanda fucked around with this message at 08:05 on Feb 19, 2013 |
# ? Feb 19, 2013 08:01 |
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tarepanda posted:I've met a fair number of Lincolns and never thought it was a particularly rare name. Eh, I'm Canadian. It's not a surname I've run across in real life, but maybe I don't venture out of my basement enough.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 08:05 |
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Can you really wipe prints off a weapon with a dry rag, like they do in the movies?
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 09:26 |
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Mescal posted:This'll help you for the US. Interesting! Not sure if I fully trust it, but I'm still intrigued. Apparently I'm the only one with my first and last name, but Facebook says otherwise (at least one other person in the US and probably one in Germany), so I'm not sure if I should distrust the site or definitely change my name if I ever want to shake a stalker.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 09:38 |
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It is doubtful I will get an answer to this utterly ridiculous (and rather spotty) question, but I'm going to ask because drat, you people are good. This has been bugging me for ages and it would be really nice to put it to rest. There was a regular box office movie in the 80s about time travel, one of those gimmicky fantasy type movies, just a fun film. I barely remember anything about it except for one scene, where this old timey guy had come to the future with some other guy, and referred to the Mc Donald's restaurant as 'McDougal's'. It had nothing to do with Bill and Ted nor any adventures, excellent or otherwise. Does anyone out there know of this movie? Knowing its title would pretty much make my day. So I will say 'thank you' in advance although I will not be surprised if nobody knows what the frig I'm talking about.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 10:48 |
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Honey Badger posted:Maybe an odd request, but does anyone have any insight into capital punishment? In particular, I'm interested in the perspective of the people that have to carry out the death penalty; I've seen a few documentaries and such about the life of prisoners on death row, but realized I've never seen anything about the people that have to enforce the sentence. I find this article to be intriguing: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/09/utah.firing.squad/index.html It might be a good starting point.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 12:09 |
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In the mail today I got a flyer claiming to be from Reader's Digest (Australia) Pty Ltd saying that I can just enter a code on their website to go in the draw for $500,000. Since I can see no reason for a company to just want to give away $500,000 to someone who doesn't even buy any of their products I assume this must be a scam of some kind, but the URL on there (http://www.readersdigest.com.au/grandprize) seems to be legit, so what's the catch? Who's trying to scam me and how does it work?
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 12:36 |
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Tiggum posted:In the mail today I got a flyer claiming to be from Reader's Digest (Australia) Pty Ltd saying that I can just enter a code on their website to go in the draw for $500,000. Since I can see no reason for a company to just want to give away $500,000 to someone who doesn't even buy any of their products I assume this must be a scam of some kind, but the URL on there (http://www.readersdigest.com.au/grandprize) seems to be legit, so what's the catch? Who's trying to scam me and how does it work? It is called a sweepstakes, and it is quite common. The catch is that if you win by collecting your prize you are consenting to them using your picture to advertise. They'll probably print your picture in the magazine along with an article, and more people will buy the magazine because they think it will increase their odds of winning, even though in some places (the US for sure, but I don't know about Australia) by law no purchase is necessary to enter.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 12:49 |
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Mescal posted:Can you really wipe prints off a weapon with a dry rag, like they do in the movies? You can easily smudge them enough to be unrecoverable.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 13:35 |
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Honey Badger posted:Maybe an odd request, but does anyone have any insight into capital punishment? In particular, I'm interested in the perspective of the people that have to carry out the death penalty; I've seen a few documentaries and such about the life of prisoners on death row, but realized I've never seen anything about the people that have to enforce the sentence. Albert Pierrepoint was one of the last hangman in England before the death penalty was abolished, and he executed approximately 450-600 people, including those convicted of treason in WWII. He wrote an autobiography which has some interesting insights, specifically that he didn't see any real benefit to the death penalty and that the notion that it was a deterrent was fallacious. Here's where to buy it in the UK And here's the US
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 14:02 |
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How do the authorities deal with the corpse of a person who has no family to claim him, or isn't even identifiable?
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 15:48 |
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Creamtion or Potters Field
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 15:53 |
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tarepanda posted:I've met a fair number of Lincolns and never thought it was a particularly rare name. Apparently my friend is the only person with his combination of first name and last name in North America although his first and last name separately number over 100 each, which is pretty rare (Indian ethnicity). Dudebro fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Feb 19, 2013 |
# ? Feb 19, 2013 16:09 |
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when worlds collide posted:It is doubtful I will get an answer to this utterly ridiculous (and rather spotty) question, but I'm going to ask because drat, you people are good. This has been bugging me for ages and it would be really nice to put it to rest. There's a list of 80s time travel movies here and another list with a good number of time travel movies here. If you'd remember a picture or the title, it shouldn't be that hard to find (assuming it was definitely a movie and not a TV episode or something). Also, I could have sworn there was a thread for names of movies you can't remember, but the closest thing in Cinema Discusso is their general question thread, but you might be able to post one in PYF.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 16:22 |
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tarepanda posted:
Weird, there's 117 people with my last name. And apparently I'm the only with my complete name (although it does say 1 or fewer, so maybe I don't exist?) Edit: Apparently it gives 117 for any name that is uncommon or not there at all. I just plugged in the last name Shartsenjorts and it said 117. Flash Gordon Ramsay fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Feb 19, 2013 |
# ? Feb 19, 2013 16:31 |
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Baron Bifford posted:How do the authorities deal with the corpse of a person who has no family to claim him, or isn't even identifiable? There's a good episode of This American Life that talks about this. They interview police and morgue workers in some big city (LA maybe?). Basically they'll keep the bodies for a year and see if someone claims them. Then once a year, they have a mass burial of all of the corpses just like a regular funeral service. Pretty sad
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 16:39 |
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helopticor posted:Also, I could have sworn there was a thread for names of movies you can't remember, but the closest thing in Cinema Discusso is their general question thread There is - here
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 17:01 |
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Honey Badger posted:Maybe an odd request, but does anyone have any insight into capital punishment? In particular, I'm interested in the perspective of the people that have to carry out the death penalty; I've seen a few documentaries and such about the life of prisoners on death row, but realized I've never seen anything about the people that have to enforce the sentence. This guy was an executioner in Virginia, killed 62 people between the electric chair and lethal injection. He wrote a book about those experiences, but judging the book by its cover it looks amateurish and has no reviews on Amazon so I have no idea if it's any good or not: http://amzn.com/1449751776
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 17:01 |
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I'm trying to help my mom get ready to leave her awful job. She works as an office manager in a small town but her typing skills are pretty lacking. She doesn't know how to touch type so she is very slow. She's in her 50s and I'm trying to find some typing tutor game(s) to help her learn in a way that is fun and efficient. All the free typing games I'm finding online are pretty basic and not really instructional, just for practice. But the instructional sites are all boring. Can anyone recommend a good typing tutor, either free or commercial, that would be fun for someone in their 50s? She plays Facebook games and online slot machines and stuff so it doesn't need to be complex or anything, just something that would make her actually enjoy learning to type.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 17:13 |
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when worlds collide posted:There was a regular box office movie in the 80s about time travel, one of those gimmicky fantasy type movies, just a fun film. I barely remember anything about it except for one scene, where this old timey guy had come to the future with some other guy, and referred to the Mc Donald's restaurant as 'McDougal's'. Do you recall if the movie involved midgets? Because after reading that, my brain is faintly suggesting Time Bandits. But I haven't seen the movie in I don't even know how many years, so I could easily be wrong.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 17:29 |
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Whats the cheapest portable thing that can play mp3's? I'm thinking one of those CD/MP3 players.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 18:20 |
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TATPants posted:I know that you are specifically asking about using Word, but have you or your group ever thought about using LaTeX? It is incredibly useful especially for technical documents, and even more so if you have more than a handful of images. Plus it makes writing equations a snap. some segments use that program, but this task requires Word and I'm too small a cog to change anything. randyest posted:Glad to help, and not trying to hassle you, but I'm still unclear on when you'd need to renumber a caption. Aren't they always sequential? What I meant is that a new figure is inserted BEFORE Figure 1 in the document. Word wants to renumber and call it the new Figure 1, but I want it to be figure 22 even though it appears BEFORE figure 1. Anyway, in my button mashing, I think I accomplished what you have just described.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 18:24 |
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BobTheCow posted:This guy was an executioner in Virginia, killed 62 people between the electric chair and lethal injection. He wrote a book about those experiences, but judging the book by its cover it looks amateurish and has no reviews on Amazon so I have no idea if it's any good or not: http://amzn.com/1449751776 Here is a recent article about the guy in the Post, about why he did it and why he is now an opponent of the death penalty. Here's a question: I recently switched to Chrome on my Mac, because it runs so much faster than Firefox. But I seem to have a lot of trouble loading certain websites, notably Facebook and Gmail. What's wrong? I don't want to have to switch back to Firefox if I can fix this.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 18:26 |
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Zewle posted:Whats the cheapest portable thing that can play mp3's? I'm thinking one of those CD/MP3 players. Those SanDisk MP3 players are often as cheap as their SD cards. I saw a 4g one for 29 on amazon.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 18:26 |
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Florida Betty posted:I recently switched to Chrome on my Mac, because it runs so much faster than Firefox. But I seem to have a lot of trouble loading certain websites, notably Facebook and Gmail. What's wrong? I don't want to have to switch back to Firefox if I can fix this. You're going to have to be more specific as to the "trouble". Do they not load? Do they load slowly? Are they ugly?
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 18:28 |
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Zewle posted:Whats the cheapest portable thing that can play mp3's? I'm thinking one of those CD/MP3 players. One of those fake iPod nanos on ebay, shipped out of Hong Kong: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fashoin-Min...=item3f1a6f8135 Really, though, the built-in batteries on those things probably last only 40 minutes. You're better off getting one that takes rechargable AAA batteries. However, just ask your friends who has an old phone that has a microsd slot and a headphone jack. Everybody has old phones and forgets that they can be used as spare mp3 players with awesome battery lives. CatchrNdRy posted:Those SanDisk MP3 players are often as cheap as their SD cards. I saw a 4g one for 29 on amazon. Oooh I have one of these. The Sansa Clip is the best small mp3 player for audiobooks. It lets you have multiple bookmarks and saves where you are in podcasts and such. Noni fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Feb 19, 2013 |
# ? Feb 19, 2013 18:31 |
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Golbez posted:You're going to have to be more specific as to the "trouble". Do they not load? Do they load slowly? Are they ugly? Yeah, sorry. They just don't load. In Gmail it goes to the loading page but the progress bar never moves. In Facebook it loads the header or sometimes a bit more, but I can't click on anything.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 18:34 |
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Zewle posted:Whats the cheapest portable thing that can play mp3's? I'm thinking one of those CD/MP3 players. I bought my fiance a MP3 player at Wal-Mart a month or two ago for something like $25 bucks. I can't remember the brand but I just picked up the cheapest one they had so he could listen to music at work. He says it works just find and I think it said it holds 400 songs. Enough to get you through a long day at work anyway. It just uses a regular AAA battery. I think he may have gotten different ear buds for it because obviously it came with the cheapest/most uncomfortable ones but those are also cheap to buy.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 18:36 |
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Zewle posted:Whats the cheapest portable thing that can play mp3's? I'm thinking one of those CD/MP3 players. http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Sansa-Clip-Player-Black/dp/B002MAPT7U/ You can find cheaper ones (the older model may be) but this is probably the most solid thing at the low end.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 19:00 |
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when worlds collide posted:It is doubtful I will get an answer to this utterly ridiculous (and rather spotty) question, but I'm going to ask because drat, you people are good. This has been bugging me for ages and it would be really nice to put it to rest. As was pointed out a little earlier in the thread, you can try the "Identify a Movie for Me" thread in CD. The name McDougal makes me think of Coming to America. Not really time travel, but definitely a fish out of water story.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 20:16 |
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Vegetable posted:The Sansa Clip is one of the most popular ones out there, and for good reasons too: it's durable as gently caress, lasts forever and has surprisingly good sound quality. I purchased this exact same one a couple weeks ago and am happy with it, but the volume doesn't go up high enough to overpower loud background noise. It would be fine for just regular stuff, but if you operate loud machinery or want to listen to it while driving a Harley Davidson or something like that, it just doesn't have the volume to cut through.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 20:54 |
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CzarChasm posted:As was pointed out a little earlier in the thread, you can try the "Identify a Movie for Me" thread in CD. The name McDougal makes me think of Coming to America. Not really time travel, but definitely a fish out of water story. I thought the same thing in regards to Coming to America. Maybe he is confusing parts from that with parts from Back to the Future (Old man and kid time travel).
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 21:12 |
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Baron Bifford posted:How do the authorities deal with the corpse of a person who has no family to claim him, or isn't even identifiable? Watch the documentary A Certain Kind Of Death. It's about what happens if you die and the government can't find anyone to deal with your body and belongings. It really hit me in the gut and I can't really explain why. edit: SkunkDuster posted:I purchased this exact same one a couple weeks ago and am happy with it, but the volume doesn't go up high enough to overpower loud background noise. It would be fine for just regular stuff, but if you operate loud machinery or want to listen to it while driving a Harley Davidson or something like that, it just doesn't have the volume to cut through. Gobbeldygook fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Feb 19, 2013 |
# ? Feb 19, 2013 21:26 |
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# ? Jun 5, 2024 06:01 |
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SkunkDuster posted:I purchased this exact same one a couple weeks ago and am happy with it, but the volume doesn't go up high enough to overpower loud background noise. It would be fine for just regular stuff, but if you operate loud machinery or want to listen to it while driving a Harley Davidson or something like that, it just doesn't have the volume to cut through. They make little AAA battery powered amps for headphones that can help with that.
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# ? Feb 19, 2013 21:48 |