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  • Random Conversations Overheard Tonight


    My Friend From the Midwest: I hardly do any work; I read xanga all day.
    My “friend”: Just like my work schedule!
    My Friend From the Midwest: At least I’m there.


    My Friend Not From the Midwest: 93
    My “friend”: 93
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: d4
    My “friend”: d4
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: 39
    My “friend”: 39
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: 05
    My “friend”: 05
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: 45
    My “friend”: 45
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: d1
    My “friend”: d1
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: de
    My “friend”: de
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: bb
    My “friend”: bb
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: a2
    My “friend”: a2
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: 98
    My “friend”: 98
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: 7d
    My “friend”: 7d
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: 76
    My “friend”: 76
    My Friend Not From the Midwest: c3
    My “friend”: c3

    (these digits have been changed to protect the owner’s security)


    My Friend From the Midwest: Chin?
    My “friend”: CHIN?!?!?!?!


  • For Thunderbird Users Only

    I’m configuring my new work (WoW) PC, and finding that I had to relearn
    how to set Mozilla Thunderbird preferences.  I couldn’t find the
    one specific webpage that originally taught me how to include the date
    and time in reply headers.  So here — for your benefit as well as
    my own recollection next time — is the procedure:

    1) Go to “My Documents” Application Data Thunderbird Profiles [foo].default

    2) Edit your prefs.js file and add the line:
    user_pref(“mailnews.reply_header_type”, 2);

    Simple, huh?  Now your email replies will begin with the date and time of the original email, like this:

    On 5/19/2005 1:25 PM, Bill Gates wrote:


    Actually, it’s a bit more complex.  Here’s the official site instructions:

    http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/tips

    http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/edit#user

    http://www.mozilla.org/support/thunderbird/edit#profile

    Locate your profile folder

    Before the configuration files are presented, you should know how to find
    your profile folder, which is where Thunderbird saves all your settings on your hard drive.

    • On Windows XP/2000, the path is usually
      %AppData%ThunderbirdProfilesxxxxxxxx.default,
      where xxxxxxxx is a random string of 8 characters. Just browse to
      C:Documents and Settings[User Name]Application DataThunderbirdProfiles
      and the rest should be obvious.
    • On Windows 95/98/Me, the path is usually
      C:WINDOWSApplication DataThunderbirdProfilesxxxxxxxx.default
    • On Linux, the path is usually
      ~/.mozilla/thunderbird/xxxxxxxx.default/
    • On Mac OS X, the path is usually
      ~/Library/Application Support/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxxxxxxx.default/

    %AppData% is a shorthand for
    the Application Data path on Windows 2000/XP. To use it, click
    Start > Run…, enter %AppData%
    and press Enter. You will be taken to the “real” folder, which is
    normally C:Documents and Settings[User Name]Application Data.

    Thunderbird is capable of handling more than one user and thus,
    more than one profile. The path examples above refers to the default
    profile that is automatically created when you start Thunderbird for the first time.
    You can manage any number of profiles by using the
    Profile Manager.

  • Degrees of Men and Women

    A recent article in USA Today (yes, that bastion of journalism) says:

    More than 57% of the freshly robed graduates parading across (college) podiums
    this graduation season will be female, up from 43% in 1970. In
    Minnesota this year, women outperformed men in every degree category,
    earning more than two-thirds of the master’s degrees and more than half
    the doctorates.

    Since most women prefer to marry up educationally (I don’t have real
    data to support this, so if you are a woman who prefers a mimbo, please
    comment), I see it as a real problem.  If women are getting the
    advanced degrees, and they want to marry men with advanceder degrees,
    then we will clearly have a shortage of men.  I advise buying
    options on educated man futures.

    Along similar lines, why is there so much emphasis on breast cancer,
    when women already outlive men?  Do we want to increase this gap
    and leave more widows?  I say we have benefit dinners and 10K runs
    to address the main killers of men like heart disease, prostate
    cancer, and getting shot while running from cops.  This could lead
    to some creative benefit events: The Low-Cal Benefit Dinner for Heart
    Disease.  The 10K Run for the Run From Cops.

  • The Ideal Woman

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  • WTB (Want To Buy): treadmill

    Does anyone have a treadmill they want to get rid of?  I am thinking of
    hooking one up to my laptop so that I can play World of Warcraft while
    exercising at the same time.  Because you have to do a lot of running
    around in the game, and it would be neat to actually run (on the
    treadmill) to get around in the game.  It’s part of a bigger initiative
    to explore mixed reality, the intersection of real physical objects /
    motions with a virtual world.  I worked on that in the past with Edwin
    on an automotive navigation project for DEC/Compaq.  This is just a hobby,
    plus trying to get in shape.

    And at the request of dtlee and cesareborgia:

    Three names you go by

    1. Ed

    2. Changed

    3. Mithran (World of Warcraft, Bloodhoof server)

    Three screen names you have had

    1. Ed

    2. Changed

    3. Mithran (World of Warcraft, Bloodhoof server)

    Three things that scare you

    1. roller coasters

    2. rabid dogs

    3. dying alone and unloved

    Three of your everyday essentials

    1. heat

    2. fruit

    3. goals

    Three things you are wearing right now

    1. boots

    2. 13-year-old T-shirt

    3. non-huggable zippered pullover

    Three musical artists or bands

    1. Rush

    2. Indigo Girls

    3. Boston

    Three things I want in a relationship

    1. intimacy

    2. grace

    3. space

    Two truths (T) and One lie (F)

    1. wealth without work will destroy us

    2. the answer lies solely within yourself

    3. Last night I bid on a Sword of the Magistrate, which has +25 stat
    bonuses and will up my DPS from 21.7 to over 36, and the auction
    expires sometime today, so don’t outbid me!

    Three physical things about the opposite sex that appeals to you

    1. bright eyes

    2. nice smell

    3. good ratios

    Three favorite hobbies

    1. dancing

    2. posing for funny pictures

    3. fixing things

    Three things you want to do badly right now

    1. get through the todo list on my Palm

    2. finish soundproofing my ceiling

    3. check on my bid for Sword of the Magistrate

    Three professions you are considering

    1. enchanting

    2. alchemy

    3. tailoring

    Three places you want to go on a vacation to

    1. Trinidad

    2. Anywhere it’s not freaking 40 degrees and raining in the middle of May

    3. Disneyworld for Star Wars month, to dress up and pretend to be one of the characters

  • Stuff I need to give away

    I have four ratty old chairs to give away.  Two are hot-pink
    plastic over a stainless steel frame, and two are brown vinyl padded
    seats on a folding white metal frame.  The thing is, I used both
    while painting my place, so there are paint splotches all over
    them.  I am embarrassed to use them as guest seating, and since I
    am doing no more painting, they now just take up space in my storage
    room (which I plan to convert to a bedroom once I get rid of all the
    junk in it).

    The chairs would make a fine addition to a garage or storage
    shed.  Or if you need to paint your own place and don’t want to
    ruin your own chairs, these are for you.  Or maybe you have a
    modern art project in mind which requires hot pink plastic (the panels
    detach easily from the frame).

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    Have you ever seen me ride my bike around Boston?  No? 
    That’s because I haven’t ridden it in five years.  In Berkeley, I
    rode my bike everywhere, especially when I lived in North Oakland, 2
    miles south of campus.  In Boston, everything is a 10-minute walk
    plus a T-ride away.  Or it’s drivable.  So my bike lies
    useless in my storage room, except when Logan_Cale comes to the states to borrow it.

    Do you want it?  The thing is, I have really short
    legs.  They are the same length as jglee’s.  Which means most
    of my height comes from my torso.  I think I’m as tall as
    faiththroughlove or shoey when we’re all sitting down.  Of course,
    my feet are dangling a few inches above the ground.  That’s all to
    say that I think the bike has a 19″ (or was it centimeter?)
    frame.  If you have short legs, or kids with short legs, this bike
    is for you.  It comes with a working Kryponite lock, tire pump and
    patch kit, helmet, rear spinning-LED reflector, and front light. 
    You can even ebay it if you want and use the proceeds to buy yourself a
    few hundred Ferro Roche chocolates from Costco.

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    I have a TON of thoughts to write about, including:

    • Dave’s taxicab sermon on dating
    • Dave’s sermon on God’s will
    • Lessons on Management from World of Warcraft
    • Stages of dating (could be combined with the taxicab post)
    • 4 eras in my theology of dating, as measured on 4 axes

    But each of these would take at least two hours to compose, and I
    can’t
    block out that much time because of busyness at work.  And if it
    takes me a long time to write, it takes you a long time to read and
    think.  So instead,
    I will simply bring up one of those eternal questions:


    Why do Asians dance in circles?

    (In the rare event someone doesn’t know what I’m talking about, I mean
    that a group of Asians dancing will invariably form a circle with each person facing
    the middle.  I don’t mean that each individual Asian will spin
    like the Tasmanian Devil.)

  • Disneyworld Picture FAQ, part 2/2


    Who’s the scariest of them all?

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    Who’s the thinnest of them all?

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    Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat?  Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete?

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    Did all of you stay in the same room?  Were you that comfortable with each other?

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  • Why is it that if you were asked to laugh with an ethnic accent, the only one you could do would be the French?

  • Disneyworld Picture FAQ, part 1/2




    Didn’t Bryan do anything in Disneyworld besides play PSP?


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    How expensive is Chinese food in Disneyworld?


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    Wow, that’s expensive!  Couldn’t you just eat turkey legs and caramel apples instead?


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    How does Ed’s kitchen compare to Minnie Mouse’s?


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