Madelaine McMasters

Void Singer wrote: I like it Me too.

Good morning, Everybody! Val, we'll get it to you as soon as possible. The biggest problem we're having is finding containers that don't dissolve. Lia, I've always had a weakness for dangerous waists, not toxic ones. Dee, those shipping department nightmares are prolly caused by heat. Have everybody strip down to their knickers and I'll be over to help.

A Salute to the Rear Guard (I go with the obvious).

garey Solo wrote: Which social network do you use I like to socialize at the hardware store. I've known Jim, the owner, since I was a toddler. He catches me up on all the important gossip and Kevin always asks "What'cha makin' now, Maddy?" and then, regardless what I tell him, says "Oh, that sounds dangerous." Where else can I get hammers, blow torches and sawzalls... all things I could use to dispatch cans of spam?

Deltango Vale wrote: I'm making tea. Shall we hold it over the kettle for a few minutes? Yes! And that reminds me, Del... we'll also need a protractor.

/me gets out her tape measure to return the favor. Shall I warm it first? ;-)

Ishtara Rothschild wrote: Maryanne Solo wrote: And what of those who disregard scientific fact & for whatever spiritual reason, choose partners, being close relatives, whereby permanent genetic damage is the result? Will this behaviour lead to genetic screening as the human race hurtles forward or has this type of belief already bought the advocates of this process their ticket to extinction? I don't think anybody wants forced genetic screening. Nature handles the natural selection part quite well, so let's just sit back and see which traits happen to be successful. The result might be quite counter-intuitive. As an atheist, I hate to admit it, but religious fundamentalist groups with rather odd beliefs and weird behavioral practices are often vastly more successful from a reproductive point of view than what I tend to think of as rational people. Just look at the negative birth rates in most Western countries. The greater religiosity in the USA (and, as a result, the strong opposition to sex education and abortion and the greater occurence of teenage pregnancy) might be one of the reasons that the U.S. still maintains a positive birth rate. Ishy, we discussed this some weeks ago, when I wondered if we weren't selecting for something we (society) wanted, but nature saw it differenty. I asked if there was a term for this and Void suggested "social bias". I think that applies only to what we think we're selecting for. As you've observed, nature doesn't give a damn what we think. As we select for "intelligence" by rewarding it with money, we get a lower birth rate (because rich adults don't need kids to care for them in their old age, nor do they lose the ones they have to disease). Is there a term for the unintended selection that results from our intended selection? If the proper term really is social bias, then what's the term for our intended selection? Maybe it's "oops!"?

Hi Min, welcome to the forums! While your iMac won't fun very fast, it should still run. What symptoms are you seeing? Up until a year ago, I ran Phoenix on a MacBook Pro with specs similar to your iMac. I did have tremendous crashing problems at one time, caused by GPU overheating due to a lint-clogged cooling fan that couldn't spin. The Mac still passed all diagnostics, even in the over-heated state, because the GPU temperature was still okay. But as the GPU warmed up, Mac OS slowed it down to keep it safe. Phoenix didn't like that one bit. The cooling ductwork on an iMac is much larger than on a laptop and the fans are more powerful, so lint-clogging would, I think, be much rarer, but not impossible.

Dillon Levenque wrote: Almost nobody, it seems, agrees on exactly how much of each is involved in any particular case. Half nature, half nurture, half unknown.

Sylvia Tamalyn wrote: Morning hugs to all (OK, it's afternoon now)...I haven't had a chance to read the thread yet but I wanted to pop in and wave! What's that thing you're waving?

Dillon Levenque wrote: Ishtara Rothschild wrote: ETA2: If culture was entirely learned, immigrants would quickly adopt the majority culture of their new home country. Instead, they tend to form cultural ghettos and try to preserve their original culture as much as possible. Cultural integration usually takes several generations and some gene flow between the host and immigrant populations. On this point I can disagree with the backing of a great deal of experience, having been born and raised in California. I went to school with kids whose parents were braceros (migrant workers from Mexico) with no more English than I have say, French. Those kids by adulthood were completely immersed in and a valuable part of the local culture. I've seen the same thing happen with immigrants from Asia. Sadly, among some of the immigrant communities there have been movements in recent years to preserve not just the cultural identity, but the entire culture. That's a trend I think wrong-headed, frankly. I must say I had hoped the General Discussion Forum would be the place that Nature v Nurture would be settled once and for all, but it appears the debate will continue. :smileyhappy: I've had the same experience, DIllon. My neighbors across the street are an example of the power of immersion. He's from Jamaica, she's from a Detroit ghetto (each is an alien world to my neighborhood). Both speak "Network News Anchor English" and are Republicans of the first degree. That's cultural integration in less than one generation. My bridesmaid is from Iran and speaks with a lovely accent, but has a pop culture knowledge that amazes me. The local Hmong population is fascinating, with grandparents who don't speak a word of English, parents who have accents and kids who are indistinguishable from the rest of the noisy rugrats meandering about the farmer's market. Yet they do manage to propagate their work ethic without as much apparent "dilution". Why some chose to immerse and some chose to segregate, I don't know. I do know who gets the jobs.

Sy, The simplest way to avoid this problem is to set the sun either Midday or Midnight. Midday puts the sun straight overhead, evenly illuminating surfaces, midnight does the same, only darker and cooler. If you want the warmth of morning/evening light, you can get that from various windlight settings.

Lillie Woodells wrote: This is going to be a long long road for his recovery, but I still have my dad! I'm so glad to hear he's recovering, Lillie. It will be a long, long road and he'll need all the support he can get, as will your Mom. Though we have only words to offer here, they're often just the right thing to help "mind over matter". So I'm sending you and your Dad my best wishes and a vat of chicken juice. I know he's hungry, but just have him soak in it. He's in no condition to take it internally. Lots of hugs!

Sylvia Tamalyn wrote: I was kinda hoping that the crooked eyeholes would impair your ability to hit me with fireballs... :smileysad: Where there's a will, there's a way.

Electronic Mode wrote: Slotography means SL photography http://www.flickr.com/photos/electronicmode nothing special, just simple things, I do so called enviroment photos. Never liked to do avatar photos I live in Forgotten City (your last few street shots are from my neighborhood) because of those silent streets. Sometimes simple is best. :-)

Charolotte Caxton wrote: All of reality is an illusion. If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain - Morpheus We can feel, smell, taste and see things that are not real. Memories of real experiences are evoked by current virtual ones. At the end of our days, when it's all memory, I wonder if we'll have a hard time untangling the worlds we've inhabited.

Sylvia says she saved me the time and effort of conjuring up a Halloween costume... She's one smart Cupcake, knowing I'll never ask her to do my laundry again.

I participate in a half dozen professional fora, none of which has any trouble at all with spam. Several of them are volunteer staffed. Before anybody trots out the "security by obscurity" trope, I'll counter that SL itself is obscure and the forums even more so. The weekly post count on one of the volunteer run forums I frequent is considerably larger than here. Our spam problems are, I think, entirely the result of neglect. What baffles me is that LL took the time and expense to switch forum tools and then walked away from it. If we're not worth the effort, pull the plug, if we are worth the effort, plug the holes.

DQ Darwin wrote: Maddy I have to know what your planning to give out on Halloween when the young ones come knocking at your door??? Give out? I'll be going door to door with the li'l ones myself. Eight bags each, what a haul!

JeanRicard Broek wrote: Just wanted to share the work of so many talented artists over the past 3 years . Here is a link.. Sit back, put on some music , get a glass of wine, and be amazed. The collection is of work from approx 2000 SL residents, with 2400 SL snapshots & images http://www.flickr.com//groups/secondlife-bestofthebest/pool/show/ JeanRicard, what magnificant proof that art flourishes here in SL!

Hippie Bowman wrote: As you may, or may not know, Lil's father was involved in a bad auto accident yesterday! Please, all of you, keep him in you prayers, and thoughts. He is in critical condition, with blood sugar issues. He is partially awake, and in lots of pain. Please, please all of you, lift him up in your thoughts today. Lil! We love you! Please let us know if there is anything we can do! Peace! I'll pitch in by serving up breakfast this morning. It's an old recipie (some of you have had it before), but a good one... Clam chowder, chowder crackers, crackers and cheese, cheesecloth Hot dogs, dog chow, chow mein, Mein Kampf Baked Alaska, Alaskan king crab, crab cakes, cake pans Raspberry tarts, tart apples, apple cobbler, cobblestones Fried chicken, chicken soup, soup bones, boned corsets Lemon grass, grass fed beef, beef wellington, Wellington boots For those with only tiny recipe cards, there's the condensed version... Clam chowder crackers and cheesecloth Hot dog chow Mein Kampf Baked Alaskan king crab cake pans Raspberry tart apple cobblestones Fried chicken soup boned corsets Lemon grass fed beef Wellington boots Hugs, Everybody! Hang in there Lillie, we're all pulling for your Dad and your family. Good thoughts can make a difference everybody, so jump in and pull!

Rodvik Linden wrote: p.s. sadly, I am likely only going to get more scruffy and poorly dressed over time so I cant promise any progress there You just did. ;-)

I've always thought of alcohol as pulling your foot off the brake, not grabbing the steering wheel out of your hands. When I was in college, my friends often went to the bars with expectations already in place for how they'd act. It was pretty clear to me that they were going to use alcohol as the excuse. It's an expensive way to toss personal responsibility out the window. Why not just drop the pants and go to town with all faculties intact? Wisconsin leads the nation in binge drinking. That there are folks still driving the streets of my town after six DWI convictions seems like a celebration of the carnage they cause. It hardly suprises me that so many people don't think twice before driving drunk. It's what we do!