The Chat Thread

[North Star]

[flash=400,325 ]http://www.youtube.com/v/gSedE5sU3uc[/flash]

That's some scary stuff, alright. The guitars are actually as long as they are tall. Makes one realize that the 0.75" difference in my Stratocaster & Japanese Les Paul copy isn't that big a deal, after all.
And really, the tune is so perfect - next the North Korean Philharmonic will play Shosty 14th.

[ibanezmonster]

RIP Koko

He was a very special dog... so special that my dad even said that somehow it was an even worse time losing him than losing his mom. Not many dogs are so happy to see you when you come home after just a few hours that they sound like they are in pain. So yeah, watching him die yesterday was definitely the saddest day of my life.

Luckily, the misery doesn't stack on itself. Complete misery all week from car problems and then getting distracted for a day with that misery, with no time for rest because of school and work- it doesn't combine. Okay, now back to the car problems misery and however much I have to spend after being somehow cheated out of $2,000 in Pell Grant money.

[Szykneij]

Very sorry to hear about Koko, Greg.



Old Max here is getting close to that point, too. He's completely deaf and has a lot of trouble with stairs, and although he's driving us crazy like the crotchedy old man he is, he's still ultra-lovable and not suffering, so we put up with him. (The cats will be lost without him, though.)

[TheGSMoeller]

Yeah, Greg, sorry to hear about Koko.
My wife and I had to put down one of our dogs in May, was much harder than I could have imagined. So I do understand.

[ibanezmonster]

My uncle used to have a deaf dog, which was very interesting to interact with; a bit tricky to have to completely rely on visual cues.

A bit of unpleasant details... Koko's problem was congestive heart failure. He only to be 7, which is barely over half of his expected life span, so it was like the equivalent of a 40 year old human. He had a cough for 6 months that gradually got worse and needed medication. He woke me up at 7 in the morning yesterday because it was pretty obvious what was wrong. He was struggling to breathe until he died at about 1:30. He went to the corner right outside of my room and coughed up red stuff until he passed out. While he passed out, the fluid and blood came out of his nose. After about 20 minutes of lying there unconscious, his heart beat about 10 times, which moved his whole body each time, and then that was it. Really deserved some more years and something quicker.

Yeah, Greg, sorry to hear about Koko.
My wife and I had to put down one of our dogs in May, was much harder than I could have imagined. So I do understand.

Probably a good idea to do sometimes. The vet couldn't do it until 3:30, which was two hours too late.

[Szykneij]

Yeah, Greg, sorry to hear about Koko.
My wife and I had to put down one of our dogs in May, was much harder than I could have imagined. So I do understand.

A number of years ago, our cat Barney wasn't feeling well. I took him to the vet expecting something minor, but the vet told me he had feline leukemia and suggested I might want to put him down right then. Since the cat didn't seem all that uncomfortable and the whole thing was a total shock, I opted to take him back home and return him to the vet when his condition worsened. Unfortunately, when he took a sudden change for the worse, it was in the wee hours of the morning on a weekend and there was nothing I could do but watch him go. As hard as making the decision to put a pet down is, it's definitely the kindest choice to make.

[TheGSMoeller]

Probably a good idea to do sometimes. The vet couldn't do it until 3:30, which was two hours too late.

Our dog had cancer and was already dealing with problems controlling his bowels and major hip issues, one night he yelped out really loud and we found him lying on the ground unable to get up, his hips had completely given out. Called the Vet the next morning and of course were told there was nothing to do at this point. Very nice Vets came to our house and we put Hank down here, buried him in the backyard. That dog drove me nuts, but he was a sweetheart. He was very attached to my wife, he was a street dog that she rescued. Now we have Ruby, the hyper pointer/retriever mix that loves to bring caught squirrels and chipmunks inside the house. She's also caught a groundhog and took down a deer. The deer one is a crazy and scary story that almost gave me heart attack.

[TheGSMoeller]

A number of years ago, our cat Barney wasn't feeling well. I took him to the vet expecting something minor, but the vet told me he had feline leukemia and suggested I might want to put him down right then. Since the cat didn't seem all that uncomfortable and the whole thing was a total shock, I opted to take him back home and return him to the vet when his condition worsened. Unfortunately, when he took a sudden change for the worse, it was in the wee hours of the morning on a weekend and there was nothing I could do but watch him go. As hard as making the decision to put a pet down is, it's definitely the kindest choice to make.

Yeah, that's a tough choice to make so quickly like that.

[ibanezmonster]

one night he yelped out really loud

That's what Koko did, out of nowhere, the evening before yesterday morning. I think it was a heart ventricle breaking, if I understood it right.

A number of years ago, our cat Barney wasn't feeling well. I took him to the vet expecting something minor, but the vet told me he had feline leukemia and suggested I might want to put him down right then. Since the cat didn't seem all that uncomfortable and the whole thing was a total shock, I opted to take him back home and return him to the vet when his condition worsened. Unfortunately, when he took a sudden change for the worse, it was in the wee hours of the morning on a weekend and there was nothing I could do but watch him go. As hard as making the decision to put a pet down is, it's definitely the kindest choice to make.

Interesting. Would be much easier it it were possible to know the exact time, but there is no way to predict it, so sometimes you can't do anything.

[DavidW]

I'm sorry to hear about that Greg.  It's always hard.

On my pet news, my pet dog Hershey received his first heartworm injection (he is a rescue dog) a few days ago.  This weekend I stayed with him, he has been a bit sick.

[ibanezmonster]

There was some study about Facebook often causing people to feel worse about themselves because they see other people portraying better lives, or something like that. Really? 
If anything, I just see how miserable half of my friends are. So much complaining or depressing stuff. There are a few people that are constantly positive, though (mainly church people). Quite a variety of stuff, though, luckily. But do I feel worse about myself? Not at all. If anything, I just feel bad for people.

[TheGSMoeller]

There was some study about Facebook often causing people to feel worse about themselves because they see other people portraying better lives, or something like that. Really? 
If anything, I just see how miserable half of my friends are. So much complaining or depressing stuff. There are a few people that are constantly positive, though (mainly church people). Quite a variety of stuff, though, luckily. But do I feel worse about myself? Not at all. If anything, I just feel bad for people.

I'd say about 50% of what is posted on FB is false advertising, some people use FB to create a different image or persona of themselves. I'm down to about 30 FB friends and it's mostly for staying connected with friends in other states and follow a few businesses and organizations I like.

[Parsifal]

I'd say about 50% of what is posted on FB is false advertising, some people use FB to create a different image or persona of themselves. I'm down to about 30 FB friends and it's mostly for staying connected with friends in other states and follow a few businesses and organizations I like.

I am genuinely puzzled as to what people find that is so captivating about Facebook.  But then, I have currently have 2 Facebook friends, of which 1 is still alive.

Well, once I did a few searches and managed to find several people I had gone to elementary school with, and by looking in friend lists, found a few more people I had gone to elementary school with (quite a few years ago).  That was amusing.

[ibanezmonster]

I am genuinely puzzled as to what people find that is so captivating about Facebook.  But then, I have currently have 2 Facebook friends, of which 1 is still alive.

mostly for staying connected with friends in other states and follow a few businesses and organizations I like.

Something like this for me.
Also, it (and GMG) provides distractions for homework strain. Reading through 100 pages right now on business communications... 



Interesting little fact I learned:

Country Current Population Internet Users Percent Population Penetration
Greenland 57,564 52,000 90.3
Iceland 304,367 273,930 90.0
Norway 4,644,457 3,993,400 86.0
Finland 5,244,749 4,353,142 83.0
The Netherlands 16,645,313 13,791,800 82.9
Sweden 9,045,389 7,295,200 80.7
Denmark 5,484,723 4,408,100 80.4
South Korea 48,379,392 36,794,800 76.1
United States 304,228,257 227,190,989 74.7
Japan 127,288,419 94,000,000 73.8
China 1,330,044,605 298,000,000 22.4
TOTAL WORLD 6,710,029,070 1,596,270,108 23.8
Source: Internet World Stats – www.internetworldstats.com, 2009.

See... I knew it. The Scandinavians are online all the time. I was wondering why there's so many of them online despite the small population. Same thing for the Dutch...

Not only are they online constantly, but I believe they are the biggest exporters per capita of heavy metal and have a reputation for being quiet and keeping to themselves. I sense a spiritual link  0:) ...

[North Star]

Something like this for me.
Also, it (and GMG) provides distractions for homework strain. Reading through 100 pages right now on business communications... 



Interesting little fact I learned:See... I knew it. The Scandinavians are online all the time. I was wondering why there's so many of them online despite the small population. Same thing for the Dutch...

Not only are they online constantly, but I believe they are the biggest exporters per capita of heavy metal and have a reputation for being quiet and keeping to themselves. I sense a spiritual link  0:) ...

There are probably quite a few people in the US that simply can't afford to use the Internet.

[ibanezmonster]

Hey, I wanted to ask you a question. When we were talking about the Korean vs. Finnish educational systems and how I kept hearing that Koreans typically study 16 hours a day in High School, do you have an idea of what an average study day would be for someone in Finland (school + HW)?

There are probably quite a few people in the US that simply can't afford to use the Internet.

Unfortunately there is some truth to this.
I know this sounds messed up, but whenever I'd go to the library a few years ago a bit before the smartphone craze (not sure if it's any different now- haven't been in a while), the library always had a bunch of black people on the computers that I'm pretty sure lived in the surrounding low income area.

But besides that, good luck if you live in the middle of nowhere. I've heard stories of students having to do homework at McDonalds to get Wifi because their area didn't have internet. There's an area in my county that only had dialup a few years ago. Actually, there is only one ISP in my area, and we are finally getting another ISP soon which is cheaper and has a better reputation overall (I think the one we have now, Comcast, has one of the worst reputations of any major company out there). Either this country is too large to be 100% online or there is a problem with monopolies- not sure.

[North Star]

Hey, I wanted to ask you a question. When we were talking about the Korean vs. Finnish educational systems and how I kept hearing that Koreans typically study 16 hours a day in High School, do you have an idea of what an average study day would be for someone in Finland (school + HW)?

Minimum hours/week (some have an extra language or two, but the number of students taking them has been decreasing for a long time):
1st & 2nd grade: 19
3rd & 4th grade: 23
5th & 6th grade: 24
7th, 8th & 9th grade (jr. high): 30
School days can have up to five lessons in the 1st & 2nd grade, and up to seven lessons for later grades.

Some will of course take more time for homework than others, and there are some that probably do none of it (or, like me, didn't need practically any time for it) but I'd guess an hour per day isn't too far off. That would mean that 1st & 2nd graders have 5 hour study days, 3rd-6th graders around 6 hour days, and 7th-9th graders 7 hour days.
General upper secondary school (people choose either that or Vocational upper sec. school) tends to have a much higher workload - though nothing like like 16 hours/day, unless you want to do it in two years instead of three, and/or take a lot of extra classes.

See here for the Finnish National Board of Education

[ibanezmonster]

Minimum hours/week (some have an extra language or two, but the number of students taking them has been decreasing for a long time):
1st & 2nd grade: 19
3rd & 4th grade: 23
5th & 6th grade: 24
7th, 8th & 9th grade (jr. high): 30
School days can have up to five lessons in the 1st & 2nd grade, and up to seven lessons for later grades.

Some will of course take more time for homework than others, and there are some that probably do none of it (or, like me, didn't need practically any time for it) but I'd guess an hour per day isn't too far off. That would mean that 1st & 2nd graders have 5 hour study days, 3rd-6th graders around 6 hour days, and 7th-9th graders 7 hour days.
General upper secondary school (people choose either that or Vocational upper sec. school) tends to have a much higher workload - though nothing like like 16 hours/day, unless you want to do it in two years instead of three, and/or take a lot of extra classes.

See here for the Finnish National Board of Education

That sounds like barely more study time than in the US, if not the same amount. I probably averaged about 2 hours of homework each day in high school, but then again, I only took easy classes.

I would bet the average Finnish 9th grade graduate knows more than the average US 12th grade graduate.  And if the average Finnish student can compete with the average Korean student who is the same age and studies twice as much, that is waaaaaaaaaay more efficient. You and I got to have a childhood, while Koreans apparently don't if they have to study that much.

Meanwhile, much of the US is for heavy standardization and against teachers' unions. Murrica. 

[DavidW]

That sounds like barely more study time than in the US, if not the same amount. I probably averaged about 2 hours of homework each day in high school, but then again, I only took easy classes.

I did too, but the students that I teach are expected to study at least 30 hours a week.

[Karl Henning]

In high school, I did my homework if I still had time after practicing the clarinet . . . .