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In the immortal words of Mr. Marley: "Them who know it, feel it."
98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.
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A few years ago I one day came home from work, sunk down in my recliner and loudly cursed the darkness. Tben I decided to lit a candle... I went out to buy two of these floor standing "mother and child" lamps, with a 300 watt halogen bulb in in a ceiling directed reflector (the ceiling definitely should be white!) and 50 watt halogen line on a flexible arm. With a total of 700 watts of halogen light, there wasn't much darkness left to curse 
My mood changed completely from one day to the other: Coming in from the dusk outside into the bright light, it was like going into a summer! Later, I added a lot more light in my kitchen, in the entrance and bathroom. I have ceiling mounted halogen reflector bulb light to light up my bookshelves and cupboards. Now the dark season doesn't bother me at all.
I do have friends who feel blinded by all my light, so when I have guests, I often reduce the light (all those halogen lights are adjustable). Some people want the "cozyness" of the darkness and shade when they move indoors, in particular those from southern countries. In my everyday life, I crank the light all the way up as soon as I come home.
700 W of halogen light in a living room (plus the extra for the bookshelves and cupboards) draws some electricity. Compared to other countries, we have cheap electric power: All costs and fees typically adds up to 10 US cents per kWh. Keeping my living room lit is worth 7 cents/hour! Also,
here at 63 degrees north (the polar circle is at 66 degrees), at winter time you need heating for your house as well as light, and those 700 W ends up as heat. (Sure enough: Most of the heat is directly underneath the ceiling, but with bedrooms on 2nd floor the heat dissipation certainly comes to use.
And then we should think of what we get in return for that dark winter! I've got a T-shirt with the text "North Norway summer - the greatest day of the year".
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I think 700W of light would drive me batty, but I must admit that I probably do underlight my house - I'll certainly try a slightly less radical upgrade.
98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.
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Google (US) for "light visor for seasonal affective disorder" brings up a few different products. Portable vs. a fixed light location.
There is a great "Northern Exposure" episode where the local doctor hands out light visors to fend off SAD.
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I used to be an avid follower of Northern Exposure and yes, I remember the episode in question and being a little surprised when the visors came out - I was rather expecting a slightly more low-tech Shamanic solution to emerge.
98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.
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I have a "blue" led light and I gave one to my father; who's partially disabled.
I'm a "night person", but others find the light "energizing". Even the dog is attracted.
You only have to catch the light out of the corner of your eye for 10-20 minutes for it to have its effect.
Monitors are now being marketed with "less blue light" (so they are less "energizing"). Yawn.
"(I) am amazed to see myself here rather than there ... now rather than then".
― Blaise Pascal
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It seems to be that blue light is increasingly regarded as the most relevant bit of the spectrum.
I do get the "less blue == less likely to be kept up all night by looking at a screen" argument but less blue has to be a bad thing for many of us and I hope it doesn't become a default option.
98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.
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Today morning I think I saw my entire life in a flash when I realize I am going to get into massive accident.
Was in a middle of 3 lane autobahn driving at average speed of 140 Km/h and tad higher speed cars in left lane ( not many ). As it happened a massive truck tried to join the right most lane from another exit. He did not realize a small mini cooper in the right most lane and just entered anyway. At half way stage both realized and then started the chain reaction.
1. Mini came into my lane suddenly
2. I had no time to apply brake without hitting him. I saw a car (red) little farther away in left lane so changed to that lane .
3. Just realized Red was really cruising at almost 250 + Km/h and he just came right behind me but he noticed the switch I guess and so he turned to middle lane to avoid me but his speed was too high and so need more space and indicated he needs to come back to his lane and so I moved out giving him way and cooper moved out to service lane to give me space before he joined in.
3. Other cars who were speeding behind us realized the whole mess and were zig sagging each lane trying to avoid each other. I counted atleast 7 to 8 cars maneuvering each other and lane jumping in a controlled mad way to avoid collision.
Finally after 2 minutes of chaos with no one stopping the car just switched back to their respective speed and lane and drove away.
cheers,
Super
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Too much of good is bad,mix some evil in it
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Must be the weather or a full moon, something like that. On the way to work I had three idiots who wanted to change lanes while I was driving besides them. Two of them right after one another. The third one was so furious that I dared to be in his way that he came after me with a very safe distance of 30 cm, according to the rear proximity alert.
My old car was hit by a truck a few weeks ago. I would have gotten a little angry if that sort of idiots now had beaten up its replacement which I got just last week.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
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CodeWraith wrote: very safe distance of 30 cm, according to the rear proximity alert.
So glad you did not slow down to test his braking system.
cheers,
Super
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Too much of good is bad,mix some evil in it
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But sometimes you really wish for one of these old fashioned Land Rovers with a big steel bar where the bumper is on normal cars...
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The real trick is to just feather the brake pedal, turns on the brake lights and will scare the crap out of a tailgater.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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That can be a very convenient time to wash your windshield...
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None of this would have happened if you had kept your pace with Red at 250 Km/h.
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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True but only I was a banker to own a super cool car. Engineers cannot be a choosy 
cheers,
Super
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Too much of good is bad,mix some evil in it
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A true engineer constructs his own car.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
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Would you get into a car designed and built by a software engineer?
Before you answer, take a gooooood look at QA ... 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Nah, but we two could try to build and fly our own helicopter.
Igor Sikorsky already said that the constructor should also do the test flying to weed out bad engineers. He tested every prototype of his company himself up to a high age.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
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Soon we will be able to get into a car controlled by AI software built and designed by a software engineer - one day they are going to let them out into the highways.
Chaos theory: A software engineer in Japan that flips his pings could cause a huge disaster on the other side of the world.
Installing Signature...
Do not switch off your computer.
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Yeah... Call Me A Skeptic[^]
But it's true - and they will almost certainly be better drivers than most on the road today, in 99.99% of circumstances (provided Microsoft doesn't decide to force a compulsory update-and-reboot just as you start to accelerate up the slip road). It's the other 0.01% of circumstances that sort the good drivers from the dead drivers.
And the worst thing about that statistic is that it says more about the average driver's ability than it does about the average developer's. 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Reminds me of the quote: Thank God microsoft doesn't build airplanes.
Installing Signature...
Do not switch off your computer.
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What's your definition of a software engineer?
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That's why I invested in a front and rear camera in my car.
Most tailgating idiots who have a modicum of intelligence(an oxymoron I realise) pull back when they see the rear camera.
It also give me a bit of legal protection and encourages me to drive more safely.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Monday morning I came in - went to CP, did the survey, &etc. Then I did a search.
Something somewhere somehow switched my default search engine (Firefox 56.0.2) to BING. Not only that, but it also "refereshed" the search-engine list, adding back junk (like Amazon, Twatter, and a second version of Bing).
Note that this is Win7, updates are disabled (Windows side) as is updating my search engine list (FireFox side). Similarly, even FireFox updates are only made as suggestions.
I can guess, via the choice of defaults, who's to blame - but then the question arises "how?", unless the disabling updates is a fib.
Any thoughts?
[update]
SOLVED: WebCompanion - a part of the adaware group. Today it posted a big popup that was going to do the changes again! Elephanting pieces of shyte!
I gave them feedback when I uninstalled it . . . no where near KSS.
[/update]
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
modified 14-Nov-17 12:18pm.
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How about the ff add-ons, I think there's yet another option for turning off that.
tired of ff updates (notify only mode too) too, but it nags like crazy if you don't update, and seems when you finally say yes [during some quiet time] the next release is out the very next day or less - seems to detect when you start doing proper work. At least it's not chrome, that's worse.
There's those factoids about how long you spend eating, sleeping, commuting etc. in your life, when are they going to add the entry: waiting for your crap to update? (I bet it outdoes eating.)
Installing Signature...
Do not switch off your computer.
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