Random stories and stuff

[peter]

Image recognition is a very important survival tool in the wild, which apparently is why we can make 'faces' up from almost any pattern of shapes we see before us. In the jungle etc this trick of the brain ensures that anything that *might* be the face of a predator is recognized as such even if it is not so. Better to be wrong about something that isn't a predators face 1000 times than to be wrong once about something that is.

[Cagliostro]

"Bugs Bunny." -- put that thought in your head, and you'll start seeing pictures of and references to Bugs Bunny everywhere you look. It's human nature. Once we're keyed in to look for a certain type of thing or pattern, we'll start seeing it everywhere. It was there all along, of course, but we weren't attuned to look for it, and we usually filter that type of extranneous data out of our conscious mind to let us stay on high alert for more urgent things like stop lights, things flying toward us and free food samples at the grocery store.

This phenomenon holds especially true when dealing with numbers, because humans are particularly good at spotting patterns, and per your own example, one can find patterns that relate to any given number, e.g. 23, very easily.

Relax....(a) you're not crazy, at least not based on the whole "23" thing, and (b) everyone experiences this phenomenon from time to time, just like deja vous.

Source(s):

I read about this in 23 different books.

S'true - When I first started reading the Illuminatus trilogy, I was seeing signs of the Illuminati everywhere where I was working, which was Toys R Us. The bad guy base in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles looks a lot like the eye in the pyramid except the the pyramid is circular, and I remember some Mario thing with hypnotic chanting and was simply seeing things everywhere. I wasn't taking any of it seriously though.

[sgt.null]

S'true - When I first started reading the Illuminatus trilogy, I was seeing signs of the Illuminati everywhere where I was working, which was Toys R Us. The bad guy base in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles looks a lot like the eye in the pyramid except the the pyramid is circular, and I remember some Mario thing with hypnotic chanting and was simply seeing things everywhere. I wasn't taking any of it seriously though.

Now we need to compute the angle at which these two line segments meet. To do this we need two things: (a) their length (they are of equal length), and (b) the length of the third side of the triangle formed by these two line segments.

[peter]

My cat had kittens last night - two live, one alas dead. Mum and kits are fine this morning. Wow - that was a bit freaky (even though I have seen it 1000 times before in the veterinary practice it's sooo different when it's your own!)

[sgt.null]

When Rajinikanth does push-ups, he isn't lifting himself up. He is pushing the earth down.

[aliantha]

peter -- awww, kittehs!

[peter]

peter -- awww, kittehs!

You're welcome to one Ali - there's just the little matter of the 10,000 mile air trip followed by the vaccines and 6 months of quarentine at $500 a week. You can have the kitten for free of course as a gift from me.

[sgt.null]

Original prompt: "Something fluffy. I liked the slightly Super!stalker scenes in which he listened in on conversations, watched Lois go up in the elevator and so on. So maybe something along with that about Lois and Clark, they've started a relationship again after he's been gone for 5 years (No idea what to do with Richard:P) and they've come to a point where their relationship has started to get more serious."

[lorin]

peter -- awww, kittehs!

uh oh.......sounds like you are missing the kitty. Is there another one in your future?

[aliantha]

peter -- awww, kittehs!

You're welcome to one Ali - there's just the little matter of the 10,000 mile air trip followed by the vaccines and 6 months of quarentine at $500 a week. You can have the kitten for free of course as a gift from me.

It's the thought that counts, eh?

uh oh.......sounds like you are missing the kitty. Is there another one in your future?

Not any time soon. I keep saying that if I ever do get another cat, it'll be one of those phlegmatic, unadoptable older cats from the shelter. You know, the kind that when you get home from work, they lift their head from the chair where they've been napping all day and say, "Oh, it's you? Lemme know when dinner's ready," and then go back to sleep.

The Lady Morgana, in contrast, would stand behind the door and meow at any passing noise in the hallway: "Are you my gramma? Are you my gramma? Are *you* my gramma? When's Gramma coming home? I miss Gramma! Are *you* my gramma?" She would do this *even when Magickmaker was home.* Magickmaker said sometimes she would start around 4:30 pm -- and keep in mind that I don't get home from work 'til nearly 7. Most. Annoying. Cat. *Ever.*

[sgt.null]

Halfmetal Alchemist
lol used to mean laugh out loud
now it just means I have nothing else to say
Quoted from leopard5662 my bff, or kirby1
I don't know where she came up with this, but trust me, it's awesome

[peter]

When I was 16 ish I thought I would be a bit flash and ask a girl I really fancied out for a meal in a local chinese restaurant. To my amazement she said yes and so on the night I duly met her outside said restaurant and in we went. Asked whether we woild like a drink or not (back in the days when no-one cared how old you were) I said that we would go straight to our table. Seated facing the girl in a small partitioned off booth I suddenly caught the unmistakable smell of dogshit and with a growing sense of horror looked under the table. Sure enough - there it was sticking out from the side of my shoe, a grate clump of the brown stuff. To make matters worse I glanced at the path we had taken to the table and saw a trail of tell-tale marks leading straight from the door across the thick red carpet to our table in the booth. With an icey calm I said to the girl "I'm sorry about this but I'm going to have to go." and without further ado I rose and left her in the restaurant without a backward glance. I don't remember seeing her ever again after that night - perhaps I blocked her from my vision as a result of the trauma of the incident. I have been foxed many times in my romantic endevours but never before, or since, so effectively and decisevly as I was by that dog turd.

[sgt.null]

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

[peter]

How good is that Sarge. I want to read it again.....now!

[lorin]

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago- never mind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off- then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

Moby Dick is my favorite Melville book. Isn't it absolutely beautiful? It really sums up my reality. Great quote, thanks for sharing it.

When I was 16 ish I thought I would be a bit flash and ask a girl I really fancied out for a meal in a local chinese restaurant. To my amazement she said yes and so on the night I duly met her outside said restaurant and in we went. Asked whether we woild like a drink or not (back in the days when no-one cared how old you were) I said that we would go straight to our table. Seated facing the girl in a small partitioned off booth I suddenly caught the unmistakable smell of dogshit and with a growing sense of horror looked under the table. Sure enough - there it was sticking out from the side of my shoe, a grate clump of the brown stuff. To make matters worse I glanced at the path we had taken to the table and saw a trail of tell-tale marks leading straight from the door across the thick red carpet to our table in the booth. With an icey calm I said to the girl "I'm sorry about this but I'm going to have to go." and without further ado I rose and left her in the restaurant without a backward glance. I don't remember seeing her ever again after that night - perhaps I blocked her from my vision as a result of the trauma of the incident. I have been foxed many times in my romantic endevours but never before, or since, so effectively and decisevly as I was by that dog turd.

Alas, at 16 what happened is devestating, at my 56 I would asked to use her napkin to clean my shoe or said "hmmm that Chinese food smells interesting.............."

[peter]

Keeping on the subject of chinese food, I went for a chinese meal in Havana with my wife and (as you do) made a selection of choices from the menue. We statred with a chicken soup where I was a bit supprised to find cabbage had been used in place of the usual beansprouts/noodles but in fairness it seemed very nice. The next course - vegetable pancake rolls again were quite nice exept they seemed to consist mainly of cabbage. Our sweet and sour pork came next served on a bed of cabbage, a lot of cabbage and when the waiter returned to ask if we wanted dessert I declined. I estimate we ate a large cabbage apiece in the course of that meal and suffice to say the effects were predictable.

[sgt.null]

My Mom says that my preschool teachers accused me of being born old. They said I'd made them feel sheepish in a way that no other child they'd ever met had made them feel sheepish. They had been orchestrating some kind of pretending game in which they were supposed to be circus ponies. Lucy Day the preschooler was not convinced. "You don't look like circus ponies." And indeed they were not cicrusy or pony-like. They were sheepish.

[deer of the dawn]

My teenage daughter posted this on facebook and it was too good not to share.

GLOSSARY:
Abinci boys: Mu&lim boys sent out to beg for food (abinci, pronounced ah-bin-chee))
"Ba kudi" = no money

So one of the abinci boys came up to me in the market today and he couldn't have been more than 4 and he looked up at me with HUGE puppy dog eyes and was like, "Please, sorry, abinci?" and I was like "Sorry, ba kudi ba..." and he was like "Ohh, ba kudi?" and he gave me the saddest look EVER and walked away with his head hung over. So I was sitting there feeling the WORST and he turned around and so I just stuck my tongue out at him and he started giggling and he poked at his friend to turn around and look and we engaged in a five minute funny-face contest that had them rolling on the ground. Best day ending ever ♥

[sgt.null]

My friend celebrated her birthday at the beginning of March, but I didn't get her gift to her until last week! Shame on me! I did, however, have a lot of fun getting her gift together. I was going for a "sewing" theme, so I had to use this cute button stamp set from PTI. I haven't really had a chance to sit and fiddle with all of the button die-cuts and stamps until now.

[Linna Heartbooger]

sarge- that sounds kind of neat.

So one of the abinci boys came up to me in the market today and he couldn't have been more than 4 and he looked up at me with HUGE puppy dog eyes and was like, "Please, sorry, abinci?" and I was like "Sorry, ba kudi ba..." and he was like "Ohh, ba kudi?" and he gave me the saddest look EVER and walked away with his head hung over. So I was sitting there feeling the WORST and he turned around and so I just stuck my tongue out at him and he started giggling and he poked at his friend to turn around and look and we engaged in a five minute funny-face contest that had them rolling on the ground. Best day ending ever ♥

Ahahaha!!

YAAAAYYYY! And yay little kiddoes!!