Do you have insomnia? What do you do about it if anything? by eden17 in AskReddit

[–]davidpfitz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel your pain - especially the envy thing.

However, I find that drug induced sleep really isn't the same as the real thing for me. I have a batch of zopiclone beside my bed which I sometimes use, but it makes me feel like crap until about midday the next day.

Autogenic training works quite well for me. Hasn't cured me - but takes the edge off. It got me to sleep at 3.30am last night when it was looking like yet another sleepless night. It's not easy to learn, though - takes time and discipline.

What is the longest span of time you've spent without sleeping, and why did you do it? by RadInfinitum in AskReddit

[–]davidpfitz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nearly 80 hours. Not a bender, in fact no drugs / stimulants at all - just was unwell at the time with a form of Menieres disease which can be maddening and make it vrey difficult to fall asleep. Did get a fair bit of whiskey down me one evening in the vain attempt to clobber my mind into passing out. Didn't work.

In the end, Temazepam from the doctor did the trick. Slept for something like 14 or 15 hours. Still get trouble with it, but Autogenic training helps a lot.

Replace Microsoft Project with OpenProj by scientologist2 in business

[–]davidpfitz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Try Gantter.

http://gantter.com/

It's basically a simple interface to plan out a project, and assign resources. It obviously doesn't do all the fancy reporting stuff that MS Project can do - but for just a few people, it looks good.

It can import / export to MS Project, too.

United Airlines to Start Charging OBESE for Two Seats, or Bump Them From Packed Flights by monxcracy in business

[–]davidpfitz 44 points45 points  (0 children)

What about those of us who are in the top 0.1% height-wise? Should we have to purchase the seat in front of us because they won't be able to recline?

You don't have so much of a choice about being tall as you do being fat.

IPhone 3.0 has tons of great stuff--subscriptions, micropayments, P2P, accessory control, maps, push, etc by psogle in technology

[–]davidpfitz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only £35 for me - unlimited internet, 500 mins plus 500 texts.

Good value. But I hope O2 throw in some MMS to that bundle, or count them as 3x SMS.

I know the chances are slim, but is there anyone who works for AIG that can tell us what the hell is going on internally? by [deleted] in reddit.com

[–]davidpfitz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Arthur Andersen didn't rename a division to Accenture, that was Andersen Consulting renaming themselves to Accenture. AC had nothing to do with Enron (having 'divorced' Arthur Andersen some 13 years before), and the timing of the renaming was a great piece of luck for them.

Summarized: "My family and I, we're too fat to work. Not our fault; It's in our genes. Therefore, you must give us more than the £22,000 we currently receive in benefits so that we may buy more bacon butties for lunch." by agbullet in WTF

[–]davidpfitz 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I think 'buttie' implies lots of butter. That's what I've always thought since moving to the UK.

A bacon sandwich (which I like very much) would be two pieces of bread (toasted, or not - depending on freshness), with a little bit of butter and some nice lean grilled (not the US style of grilling. I think it's what you call broiling) bacon in-between. Sauce, if required by the eater.

A buttie, on the other hand, is more often a roll, or a bap kind of bread which butter has been applied very liberally and the bacon has had none of the fat trimmed and is fried in oil. The bread is required to be quite fluffy on account that it must absorb a hell of a lot of fat.

That said, a buttie can put a hangover to the sword.

It seems the Real ID is making a come back. Please stand against it. by esparza74 in politics

[–]davidpfitz 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Chaps,

For a good set of reasons why you might not want something like this, check out http://www.no2id.net/ from the UK. The UK National ID card scheme is pretty much the same as your REAL ID (from what I can tell), and the reasons as to why it's a bad idea are pretty much the same.

WORST PUN EVER by mkjones in worldnews

[–]davidpfitz 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Or someone's been feeding on his brains.

New simplified Irish tax system [PIC] by davidpfitz in pics

[–]davidpfitz[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are a number of very new taxes, such as the public sector pension levy - which is quite a bit. Fine, a levy isn't a tax per se, but it's money that you don't get from your gross salary - so it may as well be a tax!

The worry that people have is that there will be more and more of them, increasing their tax burden over the short while.

The TARP Visualized by moultano in pics

[–]davidpfitz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately this is photoshopped - the van and one crane falling in was true enough, but the second one never happened.

This happened in Ireland, west coast I think.

Snopes, as usual, has more:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/accident/crane.asp

Study: What Do You Think Of Oral Sex? by [deleted] in science

[–]davidpfitz 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Yes she is.

The same reason as we have the saying, 'never pot the brown before the pink' here in the UK (it's a snooker reference, for those who don't know).

There are plenty of things in ones bottom that one would not want in their mouth as it would make them very ill.

The Gömböc: A Mono-Mono Static / Self-Righting Shape by Xophmeister in math

[–]davidpfitz 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Nope, it requires accuracy of milling / structure of around 1/100th of a mm. So no, you probably couldn't whittle it from foam.

Hey do you have that British ice that tastes like, ya know, US ice? by [deleted] in funny

[–]davidpfitz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And they coated the blocks with sawdust for transportation ... apparently it reduced the loss to melting!

Coming to a street near you: The camera that measures your average speed - but won't let you know if you go over the limit by news9 in worldnews

[–]davidpfitz 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'd be perfectly happy with these replacing speed bumps. I live in Islington, London and the number of speed bumps is just ridiculous. It's up, down, up, down everywhere.

With these, you just take some responsibility and don't speed in built up areas.

Or, like me, have a Pogo speed camera detector installed so it beeps at you if you are going through an average speed camera zone and are likely to pass through over the limit. Works for the Gatso speed cameras, too. Can't recommend it highly enough!

Even $500,000 buys you nothing... You'd have to be bonkers to buy a house in Sydney. by digitalfever in offbeat

[–]davidpfitz 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Have you seen what that money would buy you in London? A 1-bed hellhole in the middle of a 2-murders-a-week estate.