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      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!

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9 minutes ago, Amiable Dorsai said:

Please forgive the late reply, I'm still catching up.

I wonder how much of the remembrance of Pearl Harbor Day is simply due to FDR's eloquence? "Yesterday, December 7th 1941, a day which will live in infamy...." Certainly, remembering that line once helped me on a history test at a time rather farther from 1941 than we are from 2001. 

That said, I personally don't think I'll ever forget the morning when bemusement became incredulity became horror.

For sure, living through it cuts deeper than reading about it in generations past. I know where I was when I heard about 9/11. I know where I was when I heard about the Kennedy assassination.

 

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ProfessorTomoe's car alarm problem reminds me that I had my own alarm problem last week. An alarm went off in my neighborhood just as I was drifting off one evening last week.  My annoyance grew by an order of magnitude when Mrs. Dorsai reported that it was our car.

She turned it off remotely after looking out the window and seeing no intruder near the car, but 15 minutes later it went off again. Not wishing to start troubleshooting at midnight, I went outside in my pajamas and disconnected the battery.

Shortening a much too long story, I finally found a broken wire in the rear hatch. At a guess, it was falsely signaling to the car's computer that the hatch was suddenly open with no key involved.  Fixing the wire, and replacing a few dodgy-looking ones has, so far, fixed the problem.

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A pretty minor thing, but I still feel like complaining:

Why is it that on my current computer (I'm assuming it's the operating system's fault; Windows 8.1 if you're curious) when I click-and-hold on a scroll-bar, scroll down quickly, and then release with the cursor having gone too far below the end of the track, the bar bounces back up to the top-most position? I don't know how many times I've had to scroll down twice because I wasn't careful not to go too far the first time.

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9 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

A pretty minor thing, but I still feel like complaining:

Why is it that on my current computer (I'm assuming it's the operating system's fault; Windows 8.1 if you're curious) when I click-and-hold on a scroll-bar, scroll down quickly, and then release with the cursor having gone too far below the end of the track, the bar bounces back up to the top-most position? I don't know how many times I've had to scroll down twice because I wasn't careful not to go too far the first time.

It's probably the mouse driver. I have issues when my remote mouse's battery gets low. The OS basic functionality seems to basically work, although not robustly.

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Just got over a power outage. This afternoon has taken all my spoons, including my emergency spork. Taking a nap. Might just go to bed for the day. Bleh.

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Went and got my annual oil change on the van done, found out though that my power steering fluid line is leaking bad, the exhaust mount that the power steering fluid line is attached to is also coming apart, and my driver's side front brakes have seized, I just had my brakes done back in June after my rear brakes seized, had them replace all the pads in the process, but you wouldn't know it to look at the front driver's side ones....

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It's 34 degrees out.  I have my thermostat set on 70.  The thermometer in the thing reads 78 right now.  My living room wall is radiating  heat like it was a heater due to my house-neighbour keeping his part of the house at a zillion degrees, plus or minus. .  The problem here is that the rest of the house, to include the part of the living room not on my shared wall, is cold and there is no way I can heat them via the central heat.

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7 minutes ago, ijuin said:

It looks like you may need to resort to non-central heating methods.

I hate spot heaters.  But I might need one if it gets bad during the winter.  However, based on his payment history, this might not be a problem long term.

Plus I have lots of warm thick blankets I can snuggle under.

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On 10/12/2019 at 7:37 AM, mlooney said:

It's 34 degrees out.  I have my thermostat set on 70.  The thermometer in the thing reads 78 right now.  My living room wall is radiating  heat like it was a heater due to my house-neighbour keeping his part of the house at a zillion degrees, plus or minus. .  The problem here is that the rest of the house, to include the part of the living room not on my shared wall, is cold and there is no way I can heat them via the central heat.

I spoke with my house-neighbour and he said he would turn it down to 75 from 78.  I hope that helps a little.

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On 9/7/2019 at 7:25 AM, Darth Fluffy said:

Dare I ask what the connection is between owning a ferret and needing to wash out your keyboard?

They are notorious for tipping over glasses of water, and other beverages, usually into the most inconvenient place possible.  Like into the keyboard.

 

My late cat, Sir Patrick the Fuzzy-Mouse Slayer, used to come up to a full glass of water and carefully inspect it.  He'd check it out from multiple angles, including where it was sitting.  He'd look inside to make sure it was full.  He'd push it with his front paw to test how heavy it was.

And then he'd look directly at me before calmly hooking his paw over the edge of the glass and deliberately pulling it over.  I think he liked to see the water go sploosh, and my reaction was just bonus entertainment value.

On 9/25/2019 at 7:57 AM, Darth Fluffy said:

For sure, living through it cuts deeper than reading about it in generations past. I know where I was when I heard about 9/11. I know where I was when I heard about the Kennedy assassination.

I remember exactly where I was when I heard the Challenger had exploded.  I remember 9/11 too, but somehow it didn't have quite the same impact, other that worrying whether my aunt who lives in Manhattan was okay. (She was.)

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I know where I was when the first plane hit on 9/11--I was still asleep in bed, because I was in a time zone where it was still too early for me to be up.

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On 10/18/2019 at 2:23 AM, ijuin said:

I know where I was when the first plane hit on 9/11--I was still asleep in bed, because I was in a time zone where it was still too early for me to be up.

Ah, but do you remember finding out about it?

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2 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

Ah, but do you remember finding out about it?

I remember finding out about it. I was dead asleep on my sofa after a late night shift at 3D Realms when George Broussard called me. He asked if I was watching TV. I told him I was asleep. He said I'd better watch television - something has happened. That's it. short phone call.

It took me a while to shake the cobwebs out of my head and figure out what was going on. In fact, I didn't even realize what was happening at first when I saw the north tower collapse live. I thought it was a replay of the collapse of the south tower. It was just too much to process.

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I was sitting at the computer trying to write, when I decided to turn on the radio to listen to some music. Instead I heard a live news report about the event, which quickly let to my turning on the TV and turning off the computer.

While I feel a lot of sympathy for the victims and those close to them, the event really didn't strike me with the same level of shock and horror it did many. Instead it was more of a grim resignation - I knew that terrorists attacks had been occurring around the world, and had figured a major international terrorist attack happening in the US was just a matter of time.

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I remember exactly what went through my head when I saw the Towers collapse.

Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,
How you awake our sleeping sword of war.
We charge you in the name of God, take heed,
For never two such kingdoms did contend
Without much fall of blood, whose guiltless drops
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint
'Gainst him whose wrong gives edge unto the swords
That make such waste in brief mortality.
 
I had been reading a lot of Shakespeare at the time, and obviously Henry the Fifth among it. I knew this was the beginning of a time of war such as I hadn't seen in my whole lifetime till then.
 
My second thought was to call my mustering office and asking if they wanted me to report in. America was a NATO ally. When the Towers fell, the people responsible also attacked Denmark and I was determined to do my duty. The poor man on the other end of the line sounded overwhelmed and said, "Look, I don't know and people have been calling nonstop! All I can say is, watch the news and wait to see if you get marching orders!"
 
I felt a mixture of embarrassment at having jumped the gun and pride in that so many of my fellow Danes had reacted the same way I had. Eventually we did send out an expeditionary force to assist the US in Afghanistan but I was gently informed that at my age (thirty-five) I should probably not expect to be called in any time soon. I should add, Courtney was very relieved even as she was also happy that I had offered to re-enlist. Lord, these were chaotic days.

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6 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Ah, but do you remember finding out about it?

I had the day off that day so I slept in till about 8:30ish, got up, did my business, then turned on the TV shortly at 9 just as Regis and Kelly was starting and they had pretty much scrapped their plans for the show and was showing the first tower smoking, a few moments later the second plane hit, I was basically glued to the TV most of the morning, then I was only talking to my IRC friends about it the rest of the day.

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On 10/18/2019 at 3:23 AM, ijuin said:

I know where I was when the first plane hit on 9/11--I was still asleep in bed

Me too
It was my day off so I was sleeping late
My Mom called me, but wasn't able to describe what was happening very well
Years later, she would tell me about my Dad's stroke in almost the same way
Dementia is not the filter though which you want to receive news

As for Challenger?
I was in the Student recreation center in the basement under the cafeteria
It was lunch and, as usual, the Student Services director had the big screen tuned into Scrabble hosted by Chuck Woolery when the special report interrupted the game
What struck me was the next day when I walked into a 3rd story classroom overlooking the centre square of the campus and saw the oversized US flag flying at eye level

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Challenger  I was in high school, in class in the South Attic, with our desks in a circle.  I think it was an English class, but it could have been something related.  The launch had gotten a lot of publicity because of Christa McAuliffe, first teacher in space, and a lot of schools all over the country were tuned in.  They'd been watching the launch in the library on the second floor, and our music teacher came up and told us what had happened.  I said "Oh my god!" about half a second ahead of our teacher saying the same words.

 

9/11  Our boss was out on the east coast for a veterinary conference and to visit family, and she was due to fly back later that day, so I was solo vet at work that day.  I almost always had NPR playing on the radio in the morning, and then in my car on the way in to the hospital.  Based on the timeline I'm reading, the first plane hit at 7:46am my time, and since I start work at 8:30am, I was probably at home getting ready for work when they announced it.  I don't think anyone realized at that point that it was anything more than a horrible accident.  The second plane hit 8:03am, not sure if I was in the car yet or not when they announced it.  Word of the plane that hit the Pentagon would have been within ten minutes after my usual start time at work.

We didn't have a very good TV at work,  just a little TV/VCR combo we kept for kids to watch videos on while their parents and pets were in an exam room.  There was no cable, only antenna, so the picture was lousy, but we had it tuned in as best we could by the time the first tower collapsed.  I had a few appointments but watched in between them.  A lot of people were worried that Chicago would be a target, especially the Sears Tower, so even businesses without any New York connections were shutting down; we're out in the suburbs, but some clients commute and others worked at branches whose main office was downtown.  As the morning went on, a lot of people who'd been sent home from work or were supposed to be flying that day wound up calling to make last-minute appointments, and they made up for the ones who cancelled.

They shut down all air traffic all over the country, and my boss had the good sense and foresight to get to the car rental counter before the rush, so she was able to drive back instead of flying; her return would only be delayed one day.  We're near Pauwaukee Airport and see a lot of planes headed towards or out of O'Hare, so it was really noticeable to not see any contrails or hear any engines going by overhead.

I have an aunt who lives in Manhattan, but I looked online, must have been MapQuest back then, and could see that she was pretty far from the Towers, and she didn't work near there either, so I wasn't really worried about her being directly affected.  It was still good to hear from my mom once she finally got through that she was indeed okay.  She was worried about some of the people she knew who were closer, though.

I haven't seen the actual site of the Towers, but when I went to a vet conference in Las Vegas, the hotel casino New York-New York had a fence around one part that had been hung with T-shirts from all the police and fire companies who lost people in the collapses.  It was quite touching.  Sort of like seeing the Vietnam Memorial wall, sad but not from direct personal impact.

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As far as Challenger goes, I was only in Kindergarten at the time, so the memory is a bit fuzzy and uncertain, but I want to say that they had brought a TV into the classroom so my class could watch the launch. I remember thinking something looked wrong (but not being familiar enough with shuttle launches to be sure) before the TV announcer said anything, which would support the idea that I saw it live.

At any rate, I was really into space related stuff at the time, so it was a huge deal to me. I was shocked, and a rather sad about the lost astronauts and the teacher who was on board. I was also really disappointed when the shuttles were all grounded for close to three years afterwards, as I had enjoyed reading about the things astronauts did and that was a really long time to wait as a kid.

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We all know about Sagittarius A*, the Super Massive Black Hole at the core of the Milky Way that is about four million times the mass of the Sun and about twenty five thousand light years away

There is a likely Black Hole of about eleven solar masses in the direction of the constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn, about three thousand light years away

Personally, I thought that 3,000 Light Years was plenty close enough for a Black Hole to get to Earth

Now I am finding out that there may be a Primordial Black Hole about ten times the mass of the Earth less than one light year from Earth

I often thought that the universe was going down the drain, it seems that there are even more drains than I suspected

 

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One light year is close enough that it is dangerously likely that, over geological time scales, it will pass close enough to the Sol system to perturb the orbits of planets or large Kuiper Belt Objects (and also send thousands of comets careening through the orbits of the inner planets—can you say “Mass Extinction”?

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