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Given California's current severe state budgetary problems, it seems likely that Caltrans has had to cancel or postpone many projects. Carrying out postponed projects may depend on the state's revenues recovering. Caltrans does not seem to publicize their rationale for prioritizing different projects. This response applies equally to your two questions from yesterday. Marco polo (talk) 01:09, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I'm a dentist and I married a dentist and I find that ≥50% of what we talk about relates to dentistry. I then come to wonder what I would have done had I not married someone in the same field as I am! We jump right into discussions, rather than having to explain to each other minor details that would have to be explained had one of us been an accountant or a bus driver. Is anyone else in a similar situation out there and do you also find that you speak about your field in such great magnitude? DRosenbach(Talk | Contribs)03:53, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Well, if two people work in the same field, obviously they'll have a shared basis for conversation. Why wouldn't they? I mean, I have friends who work in the same field as I do, and a lot of our conversation is about that field. Then again, I have friends who work in a completely different field, but we share hobbies. Guess what a lot of our conversation is about? I'm not really sure what you're trying to find out here; it seems kind of obvious to me that the easiest and most natural points of conversation between people spring from shared experiences or circumstances. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 06:28, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
My father was a physicist and engineer, and my mother majored in French with a minor in Classics (both attended the University of London: Imperial College and Westfield College, respectively, although they met after University.) When doing an English cryptic crossword together, they found that she solved the scientific and technical clues and he solved the ones involving language and literature. —— Shakescene (talk) 08:47, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Well...maybe what do people talk about when they don't share the same field -- yes, that can be my question! If ≥50% of my conversations with my wife are about our shared field, what do non-shared field couples discuss in that time share that we use for ≥50% of our conversation? Or, does their ≤50% "other" chatter become their 100%? DRosenbach(Talk | Contribs)18:54, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Ex-cardiologist here with a partner in HR. We talk about anything and everything (in no particular order): culture, food, travel, religion, politics, languages, decoration, gardening, news, history, entertainment, friends, family, plans for the future... The list is simply endless. Like Shakescene, when we play Trivial Pursuits I answer the Science & Nature and Geography questions, whilst my partner excels at Sport. -- Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 19:30, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
When I was married to a telephone operator (I'm a teacher and translator), I found that 90% of our conversation was about my field, and the other 10% about hers. In fact, it was more of a monologue than a dialogue. --KageTora - (영호 (影虎)) (talk) 13:13, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Is self-promotion simply a part of human life? The only difference being that some do it more discreetly and others make more noise? --Quest09 (talk) 10:45, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
An actor is with his date. He monopolises the conversation by speaking for hours about his acting achievements. Finally he says "But that's enough about me. Let's talk about you. Tell me, what did you think about my latest performance?Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:24, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
To be serious for a moment, humans have a tendency to self-promotion, but many manage to overcome it. There are in fact plenty of people who work for good, quietly, behind the scenes, and don't draw attention to themselves. The trouble is that you don't hear about them nearly as much as the self-promoters. In fact you probably have to go and actively search them out. DJ Clayworth (talk) 14:57, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I would disagree with some of the above, specifically that all humans have one certain predisposition (even with exceptions). I think the duality of Extraversion and introversion where people are one of two types (or a mix) is more closely reflective of this topic. Vespine (talk) 04:47, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Can anyone tell me anything about this camera please? It is being offered by a seed company if you spend a total of £20. The advertising material says it is "interpolable to 1.3 megapixels" which might or might not be a printing error. The deal is that you get given one of four camera models, that they choose. The other three camera models are known brands with seven or ten megapixels, well worth £20. I cannot find anything when searching on Google for this, except brief mentions in east-european languages which translate badly. 78.146.232.198 (talk) 11:01, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Well, "interpolable" means "able to be interpolated", which basically means that this piece of crap that they'll surely foist on you maybe has VGA resolution at best, I'd run far far far away from this offer. --LarryMac | Talk12:48, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I agree. This is a bad offer. From a Google search, The Acari 6.0 appears to be one of those "3 in 1" cameras that are also web-cams. "Interpolable to 1.3 megapixels" means nothing useful. It just means "It gets less than this, but we can stretch it in software", and 1.3megapixels is nothing to write home about anyway.
Worse is the very shady "You might get one of these fabulous prizes! Gold! Silver! Platinum! Dirt!" marketing. You never, ever get the good stuff in these deals.
Conclusion : I have seen cameras as good as this in the drugstore for about $20. If you need a cheap camera, get one of those and avoid these con artists. APL (talk) 13:41, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Moreover, it reflects badly on the seeds, that they need to be promoted with some irrelevant geegaw as an addon. Products that emphasise quality don't rely on such promotions (you won't see "Buy a Mercedes and get this fondue set" or "Buy this Cartier watch and receive these leatherette driving gloves"). The volume and intensity of promotions generally indicates products that can't differentiate themselves from their competitors on the products' own attributes (it's cheaper, it's faster, it's better) but have to try to distract you with the colouring in book and travel jigsaw it comes with. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk19:04, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If they get to choose, why would they give you the good, expensive ones? Why wouldn't they just give you the cheap one? Come on, use some common sense! They are preying on your desire for something-for-nothing and will happily take advantage of you for it. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 17:09, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with all the above. The clincher is the "300 KPX" written near the lens - very low definition. Unfortunately some people are going to be taken in by the "6.0" and think it refers to 6 megapixels. I agree this is harmful marketing for the company concerned. 78.146.187.7 (talk) 19:12, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
While at a conference in Spain, we saw some graffiti of a face wearing a green hat all over the place: [1]. Some friends brought back photos of the same symbol seen in Berlin. Is there any particular meaning to this symbol? Marnanel (talk) 11:09, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The hat is of a similar style to the one often pictured on the head of Che Guevara, however Che's hat is black and not green. Seeing as his image is a popular one, it could perhaps be something related to him, or to perhaps another revolutionary. --Jayron3220:56, 22 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Is there an example in popular culture of a type couple in which the woman was an quintessential B Type personality and the man was a very passionate, A Type personality? --Reticuli88 (talk) 13:04, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
This sounds like it might be a homework question. We don't do people's homework for them. If there is a specific part of the assignment you are stuck on, we will try and help, but the questions you have asked are far too broad. If I am mistaken and this isn't a homework assignment then please explain the reason for your question - it will help us work out how to answer it (we need more context). --Tango (talk) 13:52, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It is all going to depend on what you intend the buckets to hold. Animal feed? Paint? Radioactive waste? They are all going to have different target markets, prices and advertisement strategies. Googlemeister (talk) 15:08, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That article is about as perfect as an article could be, aside from the fact that it's the last line of the article before they get around to mentioning that its purpose is to carry water. They describe what it is physically, and without the last part, but with all the photos, you might be inclined to think that it's merely a decoration of some kind. Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots16:01, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
There is, of course, endless trivia that could be added, to pad it out. There is the song, "The Old Oaken Bucket". There is the movie, The Bucket List, which refers to the old euphemism for dying, "To kick the bucket". Would that kind of stuff improve the article? Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots16:03, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Since the OP has not come back to defend him or herself, I'm presuming it's homework. Which means, as I'm bored at the moment, time for some fun in helping the OP :-)
1. You can market buckets by standing on the street corner shoulting, "HEY, I GOT BUCKETS!" at the top of your lungs. When people start to stare at you, explain all that they can do with buckets. Including...uh, putting stuff in them. All kinds of stuff.
Your target marekt will be anyone who can use the bucket for some purpose other than just putting...well...stuff int hem. For isntance, people near death may use them for kicking.
Lure them in with stuff they really need even more. Like, "Do you need a nice, shiny, new 2010 car for only $500? Well, too bad, we don't have any! but, we got buckets, and that's the next best thing." Also, the old familiar 2 for 1 deal. "Buy one bucket at twice the price, and get the second one free!" (Admission, these are both borrowed; the first made up by a nephew when he was just 6-7.)
Shape, size, etc. - Buckets should have all kidns of flashy colors, and should have other peoples' ads on them - that will make them want your buckets. Hint: Do not put your competitor's ads on your buckets, it will just look weird. As for shape, of course, they must be bucket shaped, becuase if they were apple shaped, someone might think they were apples and eat them.
Pricing - I can't think of anything for this one. Just pick a random number. Or, have two friends each suggest prices,a nd do rock, paper, scissors. Yeah, that'll work. It'll give you something to do in detention after turning these answers in on Monday. :-)Somebody or his brother (talk) 16:25, 22 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A bucket shaped like an Apple Computer apple, though, could be good. Any data you want to throw away could literally go into the bit bucket. The bucket can hold those rocks, papers and scissors also. Side note: You have a nephew that's 6-7? He should be in the NBA, don'cha know. Scoring lots of buckets. Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots20:01, 22 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I meant he was 6-7 years old when he invented that funny ad idea. But, given his size and the way he eats now that he's about 12 or 13, he might be 6 foot 7 one day; his dad is. And that's without standing on a bucket.Somebody or his brother (talk) 02:40, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Haven't they cottoned on by now that it looks utterly ridiculous, especially just lathering it on thickly around the lips and that's it? Thanks, anyway. AlmostCrimes (talk) 16:24, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
What a weird thing. Surely they have been informed that there are lip balms that can protect you without making you look like a clown. I suspect it is part of the "culture" as much as anything else at this point. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 19:24, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If you're just looking at the cosmetics, perhaps given a choice of protective films, they want something visible to match the macho look of the black glare-absorbing paint under the eyes of (non-Black) Australasian rugby players. —— Shakescene (talk) 20:07, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
American baseball and football players (white and black) wear that too, usually just a big stripe under the eyes. Sometimes they are actually adhesive strips, and sometimes they have advertisements on them. Adam Bishop (talk) 21:05, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
This suggests [5] it is partly a cultural thing. It's worth remembering BTW that's we're talking about something which ideally should last 7 hours+ including most of the peak UV time and in high UV locations like NZ Nil Einne (talk) 22:06, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Nothing protects from the sun like zinc cream. As a result of combination in climate and culture, aussies don't think zinc cream on the lips looks ridiculous at all. Get sun burn on your lips a few times and you'll probably change your mind about how ridiculous it looks too ;) .Vespine (talk) 04:38, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Driving a car that has not been driven for a while - Follow up from OP posted 17 August.
So the OP asked for advice about why his car wouldn't move after being stationary for 6 weeks and we all jumped into offering him our advice, conclusions, suggestions etc., etc. But as with most other questions posted here, we never get to find out what happened. I accept it's not a chatroom, but come on people, an outcome response would be nice from time to time.92.23.172.249 (talk) 18:01, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I don't get it - maybe he's driving the car, maybe it blew up and he died? If they didn't say anything in the original question (eg thanks, problem fixed) what's the chances now. Also it's a service. forget the tip ! I've had to get used to the not knowing feeling over the years.
My apologies, I haven't been active for a while. So I brought it to a garage, they told me that my brake drums have rusted out and needed to be un-seized or something. In total, about $ 500 was spent on fixing the car. Next time, I'll remember to keep it in the garage. Acceptable (talk) 03:04, 26 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If you include variants, then the AK hands down. The AK is the most common firearm in the world. The runner up is the AR, at one tenth of the AK's population. Mainly because it's made out of stamped steel. You can make one on a milling machine, in your garage, out of a few steel blocks (With the exception of the barrel). —Preceding unsigned comment added by HitmanNumber86 (talk • contribs) 00:40, 22 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I know nothing about guns, so I'm not saying you're wrong - but being the most common doesn't directly mean it's the got the highest production per year. Vimescarrot (talk) 18:30, 22 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I second the AK, specifically the AK-47. It is by far the most common firearm in the world. The above post may be true in some cases, but not in this one. From the article "the weapon and its numerous variants remain the most widely used assault rifles in the world — so much so that more AK-type rifles have been produced than all other assault rifles combined" . Vespine (talk) 04:34, 24 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That a fasces, an ancient symbol used by the Romans and by many others, in a wide variety of context since. Like the swastika, its use predates (and is generally unrelated to) its use by 20th Century nutters. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk18:44, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The fasces (with a single axe rather than the double-axe of the Italian fascists) is (or was) one of the official symbols of the United States Senate (looking back to its classical inspiration), and can be seen on the Senate's walls. It was also on the back of the silver Mercury dime (10-cent U.S. coin) of the early twentieth century, about which the article's editors write
The reverse design, a fasces juxtaposed with an olive branch, was intended to symbolize America's readiness for war, combined with its desire for peace. Although the fasces symbol was later adopted by Benito Mussolini and his National Fascist Party, the symbol has remained quite common in American iconography and has generally avoided any stigma associated with its usage in wartime Italy.
My sister's cats are usually pretty brave - living in a house with three large dogs they are used to intimidating situations. Yet, they seem absolutely petrified of her husband's landing net which he uses when fishing. I am quite puzzled why this would be, the net is black and quite probably smells of fish. I would have thought the cats would have shown some interest, but they are very scared, even when the net is just lying in a heap on the floor, avoiding it by at least 4 feet. So, any ideas why the cats would be such scaredy cats? Astronaut (talk) 18:42, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The cats may have had a previous bad experience with the net, and now avoid it like the plague. I expect that being accidentally tangled in a fishing net must not bring joy to a cat. Oh, and we have a proverb in French: "Chat échaudé craint l'eau froide", meaning: "a cat that's been scalded once becomes scared of cold water". --Xuxl (talk) 20:17, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A similar remark is attributed to Mark Twain: a cat that jumps onto a hot stove will not jump onto one again, but it also won't jump onto a cold stove.
My favorite cat once jumped onto the kitchen counter and from there to the top of the fridge, and then climbed inside our kitchen's dropped ceiling and walked to the other end of the room. At this point the plastic tile he was standing on fell out of the grid. He landed safely on the floor, but he never did that again. --Anonymous, 20:56 UTC, August 21, 2009.
There's no telling what an animal will be scared of. I have a couple dogs that are scared of completely random objects. For one it's blue balls, like racquet balls. We've found a few other items that this particular dog is scared of that I can't think of right now. All we need to do is show the items to him, in a non-threatening way, and he cowers. The other dog is a Great Pyrenees, so he's big and tough and will stand up to anyone but we've run across a couple things about which he's been equally leery. Dismas|(talk)05:31, 22 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
My last dog couldn't cope with ironing boards. even folded away in a closet he would go crazy and run away from it if the door was open... To the best of my knowledge though i'm not aware of any previous run-ins with ironing boards that will have caused this... 'Twas just his thing i suppose... Gazhiley (talk) 11:18, 26 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Is there a reason that something that beeps about once a second is so damn annoying?
Thanks. 18:44, 21 August 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.231.32.17 (talk)
Beeping once a minute, or an hour, or every 1/10 of a second is also very annoying.
Is this related to the Chinese water torture? Perhaps the coincidence of the frequency with your pulse or heartbeat adds to the frustration. Staying in a crowded emergency room where there's not nearly enough staff to attend to every single beep can drive you crazy until (like the staff) you get used to them and ignore them. —— Shakescene (talk) 21:15, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps the continual time-keeping of the beep or chime subconsciously forces us to keep time with it, thereby forcing us to perform an additional task. Who likes more tasks? DRosenbach(Talk | Contribs)21:43, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting question. The person who lives downstairs from me has set up a bamboo wind-chime in the garden, right under my bedroom window. Presumably he finds occasional exposure to it when he goes into the garden to be a relaxing experience, its clattering wild and free and natural and untrammeled by everyday formality, but I find continual exposure to it intensely irritating. I don't know why. I enjoy the sound of the wind rushing through the trees, or the pattering of rain, but try though I might to interpret it in the same way, I hate the wind-chime, and that's an inconsistent position. Some strange psychological thing going on there. I know somebody who is irritated by the slightest slurping or gulping sound another person makes while eating; once in a while I get that way myself. I think the source and meaning of a sound are what make it potentially annoying. Some of my favourite music, for instance, consists of regular beeping noises, and doesn't irritate me at all, but might well do if somebody else was playing it at the limits of hearing. It's to do with indignation, a feeling that the sound is unnecessary, and the moral aspect of having it occupy some of your attention due to somebody else's thoughtlessness, or perhaps your own mistake, or some similar reason to have negative thoughts and burgeoning anger. 213.122.61.48 (talk) 23:10, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
We live in (windy) Scotland and had a neighbour who thought it would be nice to have a set of wind-chimes on their fence at the back of their house and guess what? They chimed all night and kept us awake. So we politely asked them to take them down at night and guess what?? They moved them to the nearest corner of their house to ours - and guess what?? After suffering the annoyance for several days and nights we went and bought a set of those enormous ones that sound like church bells on a Sunday morning and hung them on the nearest corner of our house to theirs - and guess what?? Ours never bothered us one bit even though they sounded like Big Ben on Coronation Day - but guess what?? Theirs were skinny and tinny but they really annoyed us but we daren't show our annoyance as we had by then discovered our neighbours were on a power trip. So guess what?? We, and the other neighbours in our street who had also been annoyed by their skinny tinny chimes, mutually decided to freeze them out - and guess what?? After a couple of months of trying to re-integrate themselves into the community, but without taking down their chimes - they gave up and moved out - and guess what?? We took ours down and threw them in the trash. Persistence and patience always pays off in the end. But the funny thing is -and we will never understand the human psychology behind this - our other neighbours never complained about our Big Ben Chimes - but they continued to the end to complain about the skinny tinny chimes. Indeed they thanked us for our efforts at trying to get the skinny tinny chimes taken down. Isn't that strange?92.23.172.249 (talk) 23:27, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Pffft. Bizarre!! What if there was a kind of actual weather effect, which we expected and were familiar with as something which happens all the time naturally and can't be helped, which sounded like wind chimes, or indeed like a regular beeping at 1-second intervals? Would it be annoying? I think it would probably be easy to perceive as soothing, if that was the background reason for the noise. How about crickets chirping? 213.122.61.48 (talk) 23:35, 21 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
One second may be that time where you're just getting over the momentary alertness/distraction caused by the previous beep when the next beep happens. You're kept in perpetual annoyance by the beeps. If they were once every five minutes, you'd have the 4+ minutes in between to de-stress. Shorter intervals wouldn't be as annoying as you may habituate to it as a constant drone. - But note that even more annoying than a constant relatively short interval beep is an intermittent beep that you can't locate the source of [6]. -- 128.104.112.102 (talk) 00:20, 22 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I just heard something beeping this morning when I was trying to sleep. I don't even know what it was and it wasn't coming from my apartment, so I figured I'd go see why these things have the reaction they do, and I found nothing and so I asked here. Anyway, the repeated distraction of attention thing seems right. Thanks also for the windchime story. It was hilarious. 08:11, 22 August 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.231.32.17 (talk)
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