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Mescal posted:A long time ago I read about some examples of people sending weird things through the mail. Either unusual objects or letters addressed to "John, in like the eastern part of Montana." Or otherwise minimal in how they're addressed. Can anybody link me to writeups of things like this? Bill Bryson talks about the latter in "I'm A Stranger Here Myself" which is a collection of his articles from a newspaper. Might be a starting point.
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Nov 6, 2013 06:17
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| # ? May 29, 2024 00:35 |
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Mescal posted:A long time ago I read about some examples of people sending weird things through the mail. Either unusual objects or letters addressed to "John, in like the eastern part of Montana." Or otherwise minimal in how they're addressed. Can anybody link me to writeups of things like this? Here's a thing, "Postal Experiments". My memory insists most of this article came from somewhere else, but I may be wrong.
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Nov 6, 2013 06:49
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Mescal posted:A long time ago I read about some examples of people sending weird things through the mail. Either unusual objects or letters addressed to "John, in like the eastern part of Montana." Or otherwise minimal in how they're addressed. Can anybody link me to writeups of things like this? I remember reading about this too, they did things like "that big green house where Ed used to live", or puzzles for the address. Their rate of delivery was quite impressive too. Sorry, but I can't remember anything more specific than that.
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Nov 6, 2013 08:33
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The now-defunct TechTV had a contest like that -- people sent in plastic lawn flamingos and all sorts of other stuff, with missing/incorrect address information, just to see what would actually arrive. The resiliency of the USPS was actually really impressive
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Nov 6, 2013 08:51
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BobKnob posted:Is that something British people would do on a first date or something? Neurophonic posted:Punting is also the operation of moving a small canal boat with a stick. Yes. But only if they are in a film with Colin Firth.
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Nov 6, 2013 09:02
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Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on with GBS at the moment?
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Nov 6, 2013 09:57
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Robin Sparkles posted:Where I'm from, punting is kicking a girl in between her legs.
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Nov 6, 2013 10:25
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VagueRant posted:That's more specifically a "oval office punt", no? General punting is just a type of kick. Like if you kick a ball really far. It could also be referring to 'taking a punt' or a gamble.
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Nov 6, 2013 10:42
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Squish posted:Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on with GBS at the moment? That's not really a small question, and you'd be better served reading the last few pages of the forums question thread and asking there if you can't find more information.
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Nov 6, 2013 12:27
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Squish posted:Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on with GBS at the moment? It got upgraded to 2.1. 
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Nov 6, 2013 16:31
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I've got some questions for you Americans. In America, what kind of songs (Christmas Carols?) are usually played around Christmas time? Is there like a common list? Also, is a group of people singing carols to strangers an actual thing? You have Saturday morning cartoons, yes? Does that mean there's no school on Saturday? Or maybe it starts later? Also, are there Sunday morning cartoons?
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Nov 6, 2013 16:49
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toanoradian posted:I've got some questions for you Americans. In America, what kind of songs (Christmas Carols?) are usually played around Christmas time? Is there like a common list? Also, is a group of people singing carols to strangers an actual thing? toanoradian posted:You have Saturday morning cartoons, yes? Does that mean there's no school on Saturday? Or maybe it starts later? Also, are there Sunday morning cartoons? Where the hell do you live that you have school on Saturdays?
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Nov 6, 2013 16:52
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Groups actually walk up to people's doors and sing like in movies/commercials? I'm in the bible belt "keep the christ in christmas/gently caress you if you say happy holidays" and have never seen this.
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Nov 6, 2013 16:58
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French students can have classes on Saturday mornings. It depends on the school and which grade you're in. Some times it will only be once every two weeks. There's no school on Wednesday afternoons though. And holidays last way longer: 2 weeks for Halloween for example.
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Nov 6, 2013 16:58
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Vin BioEthanol posted:Groups actually walk up to people's doors and sing like in movies/commercials? I'm in the bible belt "keep the christ in christmas/gently caress you if you say happy holidays" and have never seen this. Happens all the time, depending on where you are. I usually see a handful of carolers every year... last year we had two separate groups show up on our doorstep on Christmas eve alone.
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Nov 6, 2013 17:10
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Thanatosian posted:Where the hell do you live that you have school on Saturdays? Indonesia. We have up to grade 12 (except for private schools) 6 days of school every week. In elementary the hours per day of schooling start small (three hours) on grade 1 and go up to full days on grade 6. On grade 6-12 there's full 6 days of school, excluding the 'extra study sessions' for students in 6, 9 and 12th grade. On Saturday evenings we have boy/girl scouts session, learning semaphore/knots/morse code and such. To be fair, there are two 15-minute breaks every day. Also, on Fridays, for elementary to middle school, we can come home early after the Friday prayer at noon. Also also, for Ramadan the holidays are a month long, up to 40 days long in Islamic schools. Though in those you may have like a three-days session of staying on the school building, learning about Islam. I'm not familiar with the concept of boy scouts 'badges' that you attach to your sash, though. The 'badges' I know are metallic ones pinned to the hat, and they basically tell you that you're a scout. There's a flag-raising ceremony in American schools, yeah? Where you raise the country's flag, sing its anthem, then listen to the principal's speech, maybe have a salute and listen to the opening of your constitution? Is there a 'flag-raising' club? As in, a club that deals with the intricacies and rules of folding, unfolding a flag, attaching the ropes to them, the proper way to hold a rope and the rate at which you should pull and let the flag up, in time with the national anthem sung by the choir?
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Nov 6, 2013 17:27
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toanoradian posted:Indonesia. We have up to grade 12 (except for private schools) 6 days of school every week. In elementary the hours per day of schooling start small (three hours) on grade 1 and go up to full days on grade 6. On grade 6-12 there's full 6 days of school, excluding the 'extra study sessions' for students in 6, 9 and 12th grade. On Saturday evenings we have boy/girl scouts session, learning semaphore/knots/morse code and such. To be fair, there are two 15-minute breaks every day. Also, on Fridays, for elementary to middle school, we can come home early after the Friday prayer at noon. Also also, for Ramadan the holidays are a month long, up to 40 days long in Islamic schools. Though in those you may have like a three-days session of staying on the school building, learning about Islam. In my Catholic schools (kindergarten through finishing high school, or age 5 to 18) we had announcements, a prayer, and said the Pledge of Allegiance every day. Nothing about the Preamble or flag raising or flag club.
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Nov 6, 2013 17:31
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toanoradian posted:There's a flag-raising ceremony in American schools, yeah? Where you raise the country's flag, sing its anthem, then listen to the principal's speech, maybe have a salute and listen to the opening of your constitution? Is there a 'flag-raising' club? As in, a club that deals with the intricacies and rules of folding, unfolding a flag, attaching the ropes to them, the proper way to hold a rope and the rate at which you should pull and let the flag up, in time with the national anthem sung by the choir? Kinda to not really. We universally do the Pledge of Allegiance (usually broadcast over the school intercom, accompanied by some announcements) at the start of the day, and each classroom has a little flag to do it to. My elementary school had a flag outside, though, but there wasn't much ceremony to it. The school had a system of student hall monitors, and every morning and afternoon a few students (four I think?) from the group would go outside and raise and lower the flag according to the proper protocols (never let it touch the ground, and fold it into a triangle, but that's it). It was just them doing it all on their own, no other ceremony to it. ROTC (being military) probably did the same at my first high school with much more formality, but I can't speak to junior high or my second high school. Edit: Thanatosian posted:This is wholly accurate. And yeah, caroling is a thing. You forgot all the Manheim Steamroller 
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Nov 6, 2013 17:36
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dupersaurus posted:You forgot all the Manheim Steamroller and TSO
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Nov 6, 2013 17:41
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kedo posted:Happens all the time, depending on where you are. I usually see a handful of carolers every year... last year we had two separate groups show up on our doorstep on Christmas eve alone. In college towns it's unbearable. So many goddamned carolers from the various choirs, often decked out in "Dickensian" garb.
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Nov 6, 2013 17:49
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On the topic of Christmas, what do you guys think of 23andme kits for Christmas gifts?
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Nov 6, 2013 18:26
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Vin BioEthanol posted:Groups actually walk up to people's doors and sing like in movies/commercials? I'm in the bible belt "keep the christ in christmas/gently caress you if you say happy holidays" and have never seen this. DNova posted:On the topic of Christmas, what do you guys think of 23andme kits for Christmas gifts?
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Nov 6, 2013 18:38
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dupersaurus posted:Kinda to not really. We universally do the Pledge of Allegiance (usually broadcast over the school intercom, accompanied by some announcements) at the start of the day, and each classroom has a little flag to do it to. My elementary school had a flag outside, though, but there wasn't much ceremony to it. The school had a system of student hall monitors, and every morning and afternoon a few students (four I think?) from the group would go outside and raise and lower the flag according to the proper protocols (never let it touch the ground, and fold it into a triangle, but that's it). It was just them doing it all on their own, no other ceremony to it. ROTC (being military) probably did the same at my first high school with much more formality, but I can't speak to junior high or my second high school.
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Nov 6, 2013 18:39
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DNova posted:On the topic of Christmas, what do you guys think of 23andme kits for Christmas gifts? Strange as it is to me, many people do not want to know their genetic predisposition for illness, even if it is something with 100% lethality (like rare genetic mutations). Since it isn't something that usually comes up, it might be somewhat awkward to give this to people with that disposition. I would say that it would be appropriate only if someone has specifically said something about how cool that sort of thing is; otherwise it could be problematic for some of your recipients.
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Nov 6, 2013 18:52
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Douche4Sale posted:Strange as it is to me, many people do not want to know their genetic predisposition for illness, even if it is something with 100% lethality (like rare genetic mutations). Since it isn't something that usually comes up, it might be somewhat awkward to give this to people with that disposition. I would say that it would be appropriate only if someone has specifically said something about how cool that sort of thing is; otherwise it could be problematic for some of your recipients. Yeah, it's kind of touchy for some people. I already know I have a terrible genetic condition that could silently take me at any moment so I personally think it would be cool. I've come to terms with my potential fate but I have talked to a lot of people who see it as a Pandora's box.
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Nov 6, 2013 18:58
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I have a very large PDF document I need to convert to TIFF using group 4 compression. The issue is that parts of this document are in color. I don't care about how the color portions look when I'm done, I just need free/cheap software that can take a PDF with renderable text and convert it to a group 4 TIFF. FGI has not thus far been helpful, as for whatever reason, the free converters I have been able to find have not worked (some of them won't do group 4 compression, some of them simply don't work on this file (probably because of the renderable text)).
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Nov 6, 2013 19:09
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Thanatosian posted:I have a very large PDF document I need to convert to TIFF using group 4 compression. The issue is that parts of this document are in color. Have you tried imagemagick?
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Nov 6, 2013 19:17
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Anyone know where I can buy this shirt? Google is not showing me any love.
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Nov 6, 2013 19:19
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NESguerilla posted:Anyone know where I can buy this shirt? Google is not showing me any love. 1985 E:it was called "ice mozz" and it appears to be discontinued and Dec 2012 was last mention of the shirt (staying sold out) EvilMayo fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Nov 6, 2013 |
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Nov 6, 2013 19:24
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Is there any way to see more than just the first page of a hidden/closed subforum?
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Nov 6, 2013 19:41
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Viperix posted:Is there any way to see more than just the first page of a hidden/closed subforum? You're probably looking at one where most of the posts have been archived, so you'll need the Archives upgrade for that.
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Nov 6, 2013 19:47
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I've read a few things about roughly predicting weather with the clouds, like in a book once or in this instructable. But I'd really like to read about some of the reasons why, preferably in fairly short form. Like for example, Instructables posted:Altostratus are grey and/or blue clouds that cover the whole sky. They tend to indicate a storm some time in the very near future since they usually precede inclimate weather. I'd really like to read a paragraph for each cloud that says something like "they indicate a storm in the near future, because as a warm and cold front mixes, it happens high up first and that forms heavy high clouds like altostratus, but the lower part of the front is sure to come soon and form storm clouds." I totally made that explanation up, but something like that. I know it's a pretty specific ask, but if there are any meteorology nerds here, please recommend me something to read that explains this, cause I can't find one. Alternately, is there still a meteorology/weather thread?
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Nov 6, 2013 19:55
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kidhash posted:Have you tried imagemagick?
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Nov 6, 2013 20:02
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Squish posted:Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on with GBS at the moment? The short, sure to annoy all parties version: GBS over the years had become a hyper politically correct zone where jokes could often be considered bad form. It was the domain of serious-as-gently caress social justice warriors. It was pretty much intolerable unless one was a member of said social justice warrior coalition. Admins remembered that this was a comedy website and so said stop reporting every single thing that gives you your bad feels or w/e. (Rule #4 in the new gbs rules, and really the most important one w/r/t the changes) In a week or two the s/n ratio will improve and it'll be a legit interesting place to post again and only the de jure joke of the forums, instead of the de facto one.
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Nov 6, 2013 22:21
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Two unrelated questions: 1. I got a lot of shared files in Drive from work that I no longer need to access, but others might. How can I remove them without deleting them? Or since they were shared WITH me, will they simply be gone from my Drive folder when I delete them? (i hate clutter) 2. Engineers, why are roads built kind of with an upside down arc? I figure it's for weight distribution and maybe to allow rainfall to easily roll into the gutters? Here in LA some roads have so many lanes that if you're on the farthest right lane, you're basically at a 45 degree angle.
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Nov 7, 2013 01:18
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Mordecai Sanchez posted:2. Engineers, why are roads built kind of with an upside down arc? I figure it's for weight distribution and maybe to allow rainfall to easily roll into the gutters? Here in LA some roads have so many lanes that if you're on the farthest right lane, you're basically at a 45 degree angle. http://youtu.be/tBqDhbqnLfs
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Nov 7, 2013 01:25
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kedo posted:Happens all the time, depending on where you are. I usually see a handful of carolers every year... last year we had two separate groups show up on our doorstep on Christmas eve alone. Are you supposed to give them something?
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Nov 7, 2013 10:19
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Money for a charity normally, they rarely demand food now. I used to live in a cul de sac whose version of caroling was to slowly drive a pick-up truck around the streets, hauling a cavorting santa and an amateur-grade stereo which played "I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday" far too loud as elves went door to door with buckets asking for spare change.
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Nov 7, 2013 10:43
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On TV you see families having pancakes for breakfast as like a regular thing (except that they always are in too much of a rush and just run out without eating anything and the mother is very disappointed that they never eat breakfast together as a family any more). Is that actually a common thing in America, to cook pancakes for breakfast all the time? Or does it only happen on TV?
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Nov 7, 2013 10:49
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Yes that is really stupid and it happens from all different countries. I think the obvious answer is it's much harder to act while eating and also the food was probably cooked an hour ago and is gross. It also means if they have to do more than one take they don't need more of it.
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Nov 7, 2013 10:53
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