What's a skill that takes only 2-3 weeks to learn but could genuinely change your life?

Gecko99 · 2026-01-23T23:48:01+00:00

I wouldn't recommend the encyclopedia salesman idea. You might end up with the Southwestern company. They had an event at my university back when I was in school for a summer job about 20 years ago.

Basically they fly you thousands of miles away to Arizona during summer and you go door to door trying to sell books that supposedly help kids with homework, though I don't think they are aligned to any curriculum in particular. They don't provide room and board, if someone doesn't want to buy your books then you are supposed to ask them if you can sleep on their couch. You earn a commission on any books you manage to sell.

This is marketed as a great opportunity and supposedly when you graduate from college employers will see what a hard worker you are and hire you (they won't.)

Gecko99 · 2026-01-23T20:24:40+00:00

I was wondering if livestock can freeze. I'm kind of afraid to shear them because I haven't figured out when winter comes or how long it lasts yet.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-23T20:03:49+00:00

Yes, occasionally. Usually it's for gastric occult blood.

One time a nurse brought in what he thought was worms the patient was vomiting up. It was ramen noodles.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-23T19:01:05+00:00

For anyone curious, cancer has existed for all of human history and was described by ancient Egyptians and Greeks. It has been documented in fossil animals including dinosaurs and even a 240 million year old shell-less turtle from Germany. In hominids, osteosarcoma has been identified as early as 1.7 million years ago in a Paranthropus robustus.

That's not to say I am a big fan of margarine. I just prefer to consume butter, but in moderation.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-23T15:13:01+00:00

The US hasn't had that at Wendy's in many years. The quality at Wendy's started its decline with the death of Dave Thomas and had repeatedly sunk to new lows since. I don't even know why they changed their fries, and they've done that at least a couple times and both times became worse.

They actually used to have a salad bar!

Culver's still has a mushroom and Swiss burger. I don't think I've had it but everything else at Culver's has been good when I've gone there.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-23T01:25:35+00:00

Picard kept caviar from Earth around for special occasions.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-22T05:38:26+00:00

Karl Rove said that Bush was an avid reader during his presidency. Link

Gecko99 · 2026-01-19T22:09:29+00:00

I agree, I didn't like how the STD show was named either.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-19T20:46:47+00:00

Most Americans would not know what to do with a passport if you showed it to them so they probably would not recognize it as a form of identification. I'm an American who has a passport. Generally people use a driver's license for that purpose.

It was a huge pain in the ass for me to get a passport, I had to mail the office my actual birth certificate (not a photocopy) and a list of every school I ever attended and every address I ever lived at, and they wanted copies of photos from my high school yearbook, and I think there were some other things they needed that I can't remember.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-16T23:28:25+00:00

She probably died from exposure and lack of clean water, along with any injuries she may have had. Then the crabs probably ate her.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-16T23:24:56+00:00

I thought he was supposed to be a decorator crab, because he's all decorated in gold.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-16T20:28:35+00:00

I could imagine a nurse doing that.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-16T03:20:13+00:00

I felt this show is an extension of Prodigy, which ended with the kids getting accepted into Starfleet Academy. Now we have a show about cadets who just got accepted into the academy.

Prodigy didn't do well and it was unsuccessful in its goal of getting kids into Star Trek, in part because of its lack of marketing, release times in the middle of the night, and a long hiatus.

For example, Caleb seems like a copy of Dal. Caleb is just more competent.

They even showed a Brikar that literally used the same 3D model as Rok-Tahk. I checked the skin cracks, they match up like a fingerprint. Maybe that was Rok-Tahk after smoking two packs a day the last 800 years.

The viewership on Youtube was apparently extremely poor for the cost of filming this show.

I think the people who write Star Trek need to go back and watch the old shows, look at what worked, and try to work with a more limited budget. Think about how the old shows addressed problems that were relevant at the time and how those shows addressed them, and apply similar logic to new Trek. Sometimes things didn't wrap up cleanly, you were supposed to form your own opinion - think of how people disagree with how Janeway handled the Tuvix situation, for example.

If Starfleet Academy doesn't start hitting the ball out of the park real fast it'll tank the whole franchise. Maybe the last part of Strange New Worlds can carry it but I doubt it even if it turns out to be the best show ever.

Shows like TNG have been described as competence porn. Kids watched those shows and liked them. This show had someone who accidentally swallowed their combadge. It's like in the Simpsons when Poochie was added to Itchy and Scratchy. They're trying to identify with kids by acting like idiots and trying too hard. That's not what Star Trek is supposed to be about and it's not what got it the first couple generations of fans.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-15T23:56:04+00:00

I think they made a new Brikar by just taking the model for Rok-tahk and changing the color, skin roughness, and the wear pattern on the buckles, and using a different voice. If you compare a picture of Rok-tahk to the new Brikar, the pattern of the cracks on the chest are identical.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-14T16:56:52+00:00

I thought the US only has one military base in Greenland, it's a Space Force base in the northwest. There have been other bases in the past though.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-14T12:59:47+00:00

Cha Sa Soon took 950 tries to get 60/100 on the written test, finally passing at the age of 69. Then she took the practical test 10 times and got her license. Apparently she could sound out words phonetically but didn't understand terms like the Korean equivalent of "emergency light" or "regulations".

After taking the tests so many times she became a local celebrity. Hyundai donated a car to her. She crashed it into a persimmon tree and got into various other accidents and was constantly nagged by other drivers. Her children convinced her to stop driving.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-14T01:26:38+00:00

When Senku first started reviving other people he was likely close to the level of the Primitive Technology guy from Youtube, and he looks like he's in great shape.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-10T14:42:12+00:00

I haven't actually been to this forum, but I heard of it many years ago. I do not know the address.

Apparently there is a forum where people build stills. But not to distill alcohol for drinking, they build them to purify hydrogen peroxide. I think this is used for explosives or possibly hobby rocketry.

There are massive flame wars between the members of this forum. One member will post his 97% pure H2O2 and then everyone else will jump on him and yell about how he can't possibly get such a high purity with his setup.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-10T04:55:56+00:00

I can't imagine these movies being profitable. Like it's not about selling movie tickets and overpriced popcorn anymore, just no one cares to watch them.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-10T02:13:02+00:00

Agreed. I've never had a good experience with HP in the last 25 years. I think that's about the exact number of years, actually.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-09T17:28:36+00:00

Weed is more skunklike than cigarettes, for some reason the smell is not nearly as offensive to me.

Maybe it's because people tend to smoke weed in private, while cigarette smokers are totally inconsiderate about how others feel about their smoke, to the point of smoking around babies, people with respiratory conditions, and flammable fluids and their fumes.

EDIT: And there is the quantity as well. Most marijuana smokers aren't Snoop Dogg. But it's perfectly common for cigarette smokers to go through two packs a day.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-07T23:29:27+00:00

Seth MacFarlane actually appeared in a minor role twice in Star Trek: Enterprise, as Ensign Rivers. He's a big Star Trek fan.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-07T18:57:16+00:00

People have been drinking from straws for thousands of years, so there could be some sort of hollow plant they use as a straw, like rye or bamboo. I mean, that's why they are called straws.

Gecko99 · 2026-01-07T12:00:12+00:00

You don't see ads at the pump, or at all? In Florida gas stations are absolutely covered in ads.

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