phatj wrote:I wasn't really serious.

Bakestar wrote:

PrattRules wrote:Not fat, just not pretty. She's a friend of my buddy's girlfriend. Turns out five dollar pitchers are an easy way to get drunk, especially when nobody else at the table is sharing the pitchers. We were in the backseat of my friend's car and she was, lets just say, touching me. As soon as I woke up, I knew I $#@! up bad. Here's hoping she doesn't bring it up ever, because I'd rather not deal with that and be the asshat.

so when's the first official double date?

The director of a British company that supplies bomb detectors to Iraq has been arrested on fraud charges, and the export of the devices has been banned, British government officials confirmed Saturday...

Iraqi officials said they would begin an investigation into why their government paid at least $85 million to the British company, ATSC Ltd., for at least 800 of the bomb detectors, called ADE 651s...

The ADE 651 is a hand-held wand with no batteries or internal electronic components, ostensibly powered by the static electricity of the user, who needs to walk in place to charge it. The only moving part is what looks like a radio antenna on a swivel, which swings to point toward the presence of weapons or explosives.'...

An associate of ATSC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said the devices were manufactured at a cost of $250 each by suppliers in Britain and Romania. “Everyone at ATSC knew there was nothing inside the ADE 651,” he said.

The Iraqi government, according to its auditors, paid $40,000 to $60,000 for each device, although it determined that ATSC was marketing the device for $16,000. The additional money was said to have been for training, spare parts and commissions...

ATSC’s brochures claim the ADE 651 can detect minute traces of explosives, drugs or even human remains at distances of up to 6 miles by air, or three-fifths of a mile by land. Scientific trials of similar devices have shown that they are no more accurate than a coin toss...

drsmooth wrote:

swishnicholson wrote:

swishnicholson wrote:Oh, wait, it was something about modern life that was really great... damn.

I don't think this was it, but the NJ DMV is so much better than it was years ago. I had to get my daughter's car inspected (well, it's my car, but she's the one that uses it mostly) but she couldn't find the registration. so I had to stop by one office this morning to get the registration and then go to the inspection station. The two things combined took about thirty minutes, and everyone was pleasant and helpful.

I'm acquainted with a small handful of people whose approach to christmas tree decoration is to start from scratch each year. When the season is over, the tree and everything on it, save maybe a sentimental ornament or 2, goes to the curb (or wherever else the wherever once-live trees are banished these days).

I don't subscribe to this approach myself. I feel you aren't imbued with the spirit of christmas if you haven't engaged in hauling otherwise purposeless baubles out of all the dark, far-removed crannies in which they reside 11/12s of the year.

Houshphandzadeh wrote:I'm driving my friends absolutely crazy because this is my first real professional job search and I'm kinda ridiculously impatient, but I really don't see why places don't give a short e-mail just saying that they've received your application and are considering it or thanks but no thanks (no one has led me on yet but I've only been at it for two weeks) within two or three days. I know they get a ton of apps but I think that sounds reasonable.

Not too long ago, a magazine in Manhattan invited me, by e-mail, to interview for a job. After meeting with me, the managing editor and the director of human resources asked me to take home the standard editing test and return it ASAP. I dutifully obliged.

And then I waited. One day. Two days. A week. A month. Two months. Three … well, you get the picture.

Not only was there no word on whether I would be offered the job — nobody at the magazine even bothered to e-mail me to say that my completed test had been received!...

The magazine had left me in limbo. I was going to have my revenge.

Sitting down at my computer one morning, I e-mailed the managing editor to say that I had happily accepted the job. More specifically, I wrote that I was “delighted to learn that I will be joining the editorial team!” I went on to say that “the salary and vacation are fine and I will report for duty bright and early Monday morning.”

swishnicholson wrote:Oh, wait, it was something about modern life that was really great... damn.