Local Unmentionables: Notes on YOUR corner of the world
tomierna
(Admin)
– December 07, 2007 08:50PM
Hell, it was a popular icebreaker on the ancien boards ...
Get up close and personal with excruciating details of your quotidien
existence!
How's your dirty laundry?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2007 09:44PM by tomierna.
tomierna
(Admin)
– June 24, 2012 05:23AM
Hideously Unnatural
Another friend recently had to put down a beloved dog for bloat.
Was it a twisted stomach or something else?
So sorry. I haven't had any pets die since childhood. Going to hug my dogs a lot.
johnny k
– June 24, 2012 10:40AM
I've never had a pet die either - always given to a new owner first. But I had a gut check this week myself. My mom has been looking after my 13-year-old cat in Arizona for several months while we eventually got settled in a new town, and she disappeared this week. She hangs out on the lawn but never goes anywhere so it was a mystery, and the main worry is the 110º temperature. Never seen any coyotes around that neighborhood and who would want to take a nondescript old grey cat who talks too much? After about 30 hours, they found her trapped in a metal shed in the backyard. She's okay, but that was a shitty day. Not ready for that.
Jeff Cooper
– June 24, 2012 01:22PM
Quote
tomierna
Another friend recently had to put down a beloved dog for bloat.
Was it a twisted stomach or something else?
So sorry. I haven't had any pets die since childhood. Going to hug my dogs a lot.
My dad's standard poodle narrowly survived bloat last month--he lost half his stomach. Bloat is a horrible thing.
Very, very sorry CS.
(And glad your cat's okay, JK).
ddt
– June 24, 2012 05:31PM
Yes, sorry about the pup. It was so hard, even 3000miles away, to hear about our 19-year-old cat finally having to go down.
Glad about your family member, JK!
ddt
John Willoughby
– June 26, 2012 10:11AM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Woo-hoo!
Not really any big deal for me personally, but my town could really used the influx of cash and the construction jobs wouldn't hurt.
John Willoughby
– June 26, 2012 12:07PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
“We hope to build Apple’s next data center in Reno to support Apple’s iTunes Store, App Store and incredibly popular iCloud services,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet told AllThingsD. “If approved, this project would expand our presence in Nevada and create hundreds of construction jobs over the next year, plus permanent jobs at the data center which will add to our existing total of nearly 400 employees in the state.”
Well, at least my iCloud syncs should be fast.
El Jeffe
– June 26, 2012 12:13PM
What a journey.
iJ-Will
Finally you might get a respectable job and stop living off of SIN! Live off of child labor, and oppressive(R) governments!
John Willoughby
– June 26, 2012 12:42PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Sin pays better than virtue. Ask anybody. Reno's problem is that sin is becoming much more prevalent around the world, and people won't travel all the way here for theirs.
ddt
– June 26, 2012 01:18PM
JW, did you listen to the This American Life podcast episode about blackjack? Interesting research around near-miss slot machine results.
Not sayin' they're rigged -- I mean, optimized,
ddt
John Willoughby
– June 26, 2012 01:31PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
No, I didn't. We don't do much blackjack on our machines. Not having heard the podcast, and DEFINITELY not speaking for any company, I'd be surprised if anything dishonest was happening in the math. Which is not the same thing as saying that the odds are good!
ddt
– June 26, 2012 06:51PM
No, sorry, I didn't mean to imply dishonesty. More like: one can program a slot machine's cylinders (real or virtual) to sloooow down for the lassssst... tantalizinggggg... tick.
ddt
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2012 06:55PM by ddt.
John Willoughby
– June 26, 2012 07:23PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Oh, yeah, we do that. On a video slot, we call it "anticipation" when the reels slow for a potential big win. Sometimes the potential win reels have special effects, like fire, surrounding them. Bit of a let-down if you crap out on the final reel.
ddt
– June 27, 2012 07:30AM
Interesting. Yeah, that TAL episode talks to some cognitive researchers who study how the brain reacts to the "near miss". Surprisingly, gambling addicts' brains react differently than those of people who can just walk away. Worth a listen, if you can stand more work-related stuff.
ddt
Cloudscout
– June 27, 2012 12:44PM
˙pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ƃuoɹʍ ƃuıɥʇǝɯos sı ǝɹǝɥʇ ʞuıɥʇ ı ?ɹǝʇndɯoɔ ʎɯ ɥʇıʍ ǝɯ dlǝɥ ǝuoǝɯos uɐɔ
We're up at Lake Carlos State Park north of Alexandria, Minnesota for a two night camping trip. Liz has never been camping before and, well, I'm hoping this doesn't spoil it for her since today is the hottest, most humid day we've had so far this year. Luckily, tomorrow is supposed to be a bit cooler and MUCH less humid.
El Jeffe
– June 27, 2012 05:20PM
What a journey.
Quote
John Willoughby
Oh, yeah, we do that. On a video slot, we call it "anticipation" when the reels slow for a potential big win. Sometimes the potential win reels have special effects, like fire, surrounding them. Bit of a let-down if you crap out on the final reel.
any of this stuff on youtube?
John Willoughby
– June 27, 2012 05:49PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Watch this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjxtvX015uc
Around 4:40, you can see anticipation on the final reel: funny effects, lengthened spin times. On many games the effects are more dramatic; if you get the first symbol of a potential three symbol win on reel 2, reels 3 and 4 slow down and lengthen spin time, then if reel 3 hits the symbol, reel 4 lengthens even more dramatically. But if reel 3 misses, reel 4 turns off the special effects and finishes quickly. A pain to program.
John Willoughby
– June 27, 2012 05:58PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Or this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvPiAYj0VjE with which I have... um... a quite close familiarity. Almost as though I shared a cubicle with it for 9 months. Wow, they just put that video up 2 days ago... nice timing.
Starting at 0:11 you can see reel 2 gets a special win, and starts anticipation. Reel 3 does as well, as it might build on this with another matched set of symbols (chocolate bar background). If it got that win, then reel 4 would start to do the same thing. But reel 3 fails, so the anticipation turns off.
El Jeffe
– June 28, 2012 04:31PM
What a journey.
thanks! interesting. now I want some animated chocolate
ddt
– July 29, 2012 01:36PM
Damn! My pal Shelly (used to work out with her and her husband-at-the-time at the track) was in a four-up breakaway at THE OLYMPICS today, the break that ended up winning, until she got a flat! She worked her way through the chase group to take 7th at the end, but damn, that'd have been so cool if she'd had a shot at a medal. *Sigh* That's bike racing.
ddt
John Willoughby
– August 01, 2012 02:45PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
