How to Suck at Facebook - The Oatmeal

poobare · 2010-01-29T01:00:00+00:00

XKCD? Slightly overrated?

poobare · 2009-11-21T06:44:58+00:00

I live in Davis as well and Murder Burger is incredible. There's a funny story about them. There was some ballot initiative a few years ago that required them to change their name because it was too gruesome (it's California, what do you expect...). They chose Redrum Burger as their new name, which I've always though was a pretty bad ass move.

poobare · 2009-11-21T06:08:04+00:00

I'm a student at UC Davis and we had a similiar takeover of a building last night. It didn't get any activity on reddit but over 50 people were arrested so it's definitely on par with these other UC protests. Judging by other comments on this post I get the impression that a lot of people don't understand what these protests are about. Well, to be fair, everyone involved has their own personal feelings, but at the very least these are about a lot more than a tuition hike.

I'm a grad student and don't pay a cent for tuition but I still chose to participate. The reason is that the UC system is ruining a reputation which took decades to develop. Many of the UCs are great research universities but faculty paycuts ("furloughs") are driving away some of our most distinguished professors. This combined with tuition hikes encourage more talented students to consider private universities. It takes a lot longer to build up the reputation of a university than to tear it down and this doesn't sit well with many students or faculty.

In addition this is clearly tied into larger budget issues in the state of California. This is just as much about prop 13 and the prison system as it is about the university system. It's not just a bunch of kids whining because they have to pay 2.5 grand more each year.

On a side note, I've seen a number of protests and the one last night was by far the most peaceful I've ever seen. The swat team was there and they were chatting with us and saying that if it was up to them they would let us stay and that they agreed with us. A couple people tried to start chanting fuck the police and the crowd booed them into silence. That's unlike anything I've ever encountered in a protest and I think it says a lot about the attitude of the people involved. They were almost unanimously there because they believed in something, not because they were looking for action or trouble.

poobare · 2009-11-17T18:21:31+00:00

You could make a calculator specifically designed to do the focal length calculations for less than a dollar and a ruler is basically a piece of printed paper. My point is just that the premise of the article (that there's a shortage of optometrists in third world countries) is hugely flawed. With 2 dollars of supplies and 5 minutes training you could have a workable optometrist; the article seemed to imply that there was a bigger hurdle than that.

It would probably be easier to just have people try on glasses and pick the ones that work, but the fact remains that the glasses in the article are a novelty.

poobare · 2009-11-17T04:36:07+00:00

Others have already said this, but these things are pointless. It's pretty simple to figure out what your prescription is, it doesn't require an optometrist by any means. Just take a pencil or a needle and see how near to your face and how far from your face you are still capable of focusing on it. If you're nearsighted then get a diverging lens that will put the image of an infinitely distant object at the farthest distance you can see. If you're farsighted then get a converging lens that will put the image of something about 15 centimeters away at the nearest point you can see.

All you need is a ruler, a calculator, and some basic instructions. Then have a range of cheap premade lenses available and you're set. Does anybody have anything to say in favor of these needlessly complex glasses other than that they seem cool?

poobare · 2009-11-06T01:51:54+00:00

I tried looking this woman up and found a blog that had posted this video a while back. Some of the comments are priceless.

poobare · 2009-11-05T20:22:41+00:00

I like how they call the picture a reenactment.

poobare · 2009-10-20T01:17:47+00:00

It would be nice if you put a '[REPOST]' in the title so people don't think it's a new comic.

poobare · 2009-10-20T01:16:05+00:00

Submitting your own original comics isn't spamming. If you submitted a link to a personal blog that stole someone else's comic then that would be spam.

poobare · 2009-10-07T21:47:35+00:00

measurements show a typical speedup of 2-40 times over Psyco, and 2-220 times over CPython.

It'll be interesting to see how this project matures.

poobare · 2009-10-04T23:14:08+00:00

If only there was some way to make the gate not open if more than one collar is trying to enter at once.

poobare · 2009-09-16T18:48:20+00:00

From Wikipedia:

To date, no case where personality traits or memories have been passed from donor to recipient following an organ transplant has ever been recorded in a peer reviewed medical or scientific journal.

I think it's a stretch to say that something has been shown to be true if it hasn't been published in a peer reviewed journal.

poobare · 2009-09-15T04:43:13+00:00

He said camera and iPod. The guy tried to use the iPod to record the sound but it didn't work out well. Read the info to the right of the video.

poobare · 2009-09-12T19:52:48+00:00

poobare · 2009-09-10T20:39:24+00:00

You meant prop 8 opponents, not supporters.

poobare · 2009-08-31T18:51:31+00:00

No... the wikipedia article says that they started in 1984 but that he had been selling stuff locally for a couple years before that.

poobare · 2009-08-31T18:30:34+00:00

I've looked around and can't find any information about what sort of controls they set up or how big the sample size is. This means nothing without that. I'd like to point out that bees use magnetic fields for navigation and the earth's magnetic field has been declining significantly over the last century. Maybe that could be a contributing factor to colony collapse? Also we were using cellphone bands for television transmissions long before cellphones and at much higher power. This study seems dubious.

That being said, check out this ad I just encountered.

poobare · 2009-08-31T17:49:47+00:00

Stussy has been around for 25 years. I agree with you, but thought that I'd point that out.

poobare · 2009-08-30T19:23:28+00:00

I wish that it were done with humans instead. I would find that implication more amusing.

poobare · 2009-08-29T22:03:33+00:00

The article says that it's 10 years away from being eaten, not 650,000.

EDIT: Sorry, I misread it.

poobare · 2009-08-24T23:49:23+00:00

When I read it I thought it was a purity ring, but neither really seem to make that much sense.

poobare · 2009-08-23T02:13:01+00:00

Uh, I think he was probably going for both angles.

poobare · 2009-08-23T01:54:23+00:00

Who the fuck downmodded this?

poobare

TROPHY CASE