Random randomness

[Max Peck]

When falling asleep I often wake up startled to find that my heart and breathing have stopped. Doesn't affect me after I get to sleep so it's probably panic attacks.

My armchair diagnosis is sleep apnea. I have it and it's the reason I'm on a CPAP machine in stead of pills. With sleep apnea and pills you can go to sleep and not wake up in time.

If it's happening just as he's falling asleep, it might be a form of hypnic jerk.

[Daehawk]

That happens to me if I run short of my medicine. Ill go to bed and right as I am falling a sleep I jerk...hard sometimes. Ive nearly knocked my wife out of bed at times. Other times its just a quick jerk of my arm. When im on the PC here and trying to stay up Ill jerk and drop my mouse in the floor and such. Scares the shit out of me. Most times though I do something to my computer and when I wake up the nav bar is missing or some error box is up. Sometimes I totally have to reinstall FireFox because Ive messed it up so bad.

[Kraken]

When falling asleep I often wake up startled to find that my heart and breathing have stopped. Doesn't affect me after I get to sleep so it's probably panic attacks.

My armchair diagnosis is sleep apnea. I have it and it's the reason I'm on a CPAP machine in stead of pills. With sleep apnea and pills you can go to sleep and not wake up in time.

If it's happening just as he's falling asleep, it might be a form of hypnic jerk.

That fits better than apnea, because once I surrender to sleep I'm good for the night. But my body tries to fight it off, and that's where the panic attacks come from.

[LordMortis]

Be careful what you post.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/02/entertain ... d=21832636

Or at least don't go stealing IP. Especially when you make a living publishing IP.

[dbt1949]

My stepson voted for Donald Trump.
'Nuff said.

[Skinypupy]

I don't know if it's something I've been eating or that I have some sort of hidden fear that only manifests in dreams, but my subconscious has apparently been working overtime these days. For the last two weeks, I have had the most insane, bizarre dreams. They feature a cast of thousands with some truly crazy plots (I've been a train conductor, a secret agent, a professional soccer player, a card shark, a freedom fighter, any combination of the above, etc.). Oddly there is a consistency that they all take place in my college town.

I've been waking up every morning trying to shake off that "WTF was that?" feeling.

[Isgrimnur]

Welcome to your midlife crisis.

[El Guapo]

I don't know if it's something I've been eating or that I have some sort of hidden fear that only manifests in dreams, but my subconscious has apparently been working overtime these days. For the last two weeks, I have had the most insane, bizarre dreams. They feature a cast of thousands with some truly crazy plots (I've been a train conductor, a secret agent, a professional soccer player, a card shark, a freedom fighter, any combination of the above, etc.). Oddly there is a consistency that they all take place in my college town.

I've been waking up every morning trying to shake off that "WTF was that?" feeling.

Most likely you are in fact some type of deep cover agent who has been programmed with what you believe to be your current identity in order to make your cover more believable (since you, in fact, believe it yourself). The dreams represent your true sublimated consciousness trying to assert itself against the programmed identity.

Obviously.

[Isgrimnur]

Is this your card?

[Skinypupy]

I don't know if it's something I've been eating or that I have some sort of hidden fear that only manifests in dreams, but my subconscious has apparently been working overtime these days. For the last two weeks, I have had the most insane, bizarre dreams. They feature a cast of thousands with some truly crazy plots (I've been a train conductor, a secret agent, a professional soccer player, a card shark, a freedom fighter, any combination of the above, etc.). Oddly there is a consistency that they all take place in my college town.

I've been waking up every morning trying to shake off that "WTF was that?" feeling.

Most likely you are in fact some type of deep cover agent who has been programmed with what you believe to be your current identity in order to make your cover more believable (since you, in fact, believe it yourself). The dreams represent your true sublimated consciousness trying to assert itself against the programmed identity.

Obviously.

Sigh...fine. I'll GET MAH ASS TO MAHS.

[El Guapo]

I don't know if it's something I've been eating or that I have some sort of hidden fear that only manifests in dreams, but my subconscious has apparently been working overtime these days. For the last two weeks, I have had the most insane, bizarre dreams. They feature a cast of thousands with some truly crazy plots (I've been a train conductor, a secret agent, a professional soccer player, a card shark, a freedom fighter, any combination of the above, etc.). Oddly there is a consistency that they all take place in my college town.

I've been waking up every morning trying to shake off that "WTF was that?" feeling.

Most likely you are in fact some type of deep cover agent who has been programmed with what you believe to be your current identity in order to make your cover more believable (since you, in fact, believe it yourself). The dreams represent your true sublimated consciousness trying to assert itself against the programmed identity.

Obviously.

Sigh...fine. I'll GET MAH ASS TO MAHS.

Side note: don't trust your wife.

[Malificent]

When falling asleep I often wake up startled to find that my heart and breathing have stopped. Doesn't affect me after I get to sleep so it's probably panic attacks.

My armchair diagnosis is sleep apnea. I have it and it's the reason I'm on a CPAP machine in stead of pills. With sleep apnea and pills you can go to sleep and not wake up in time.

If it's happening just as he's falling asleep, it might be a form of hypnic jerk.

That fits better than apnea, because once I surrender to sleep I'm good for the night. But my body tries to fight it off, and that's where the panic attacks come from.

Although...

I have apnea and I thought I was sleeping fine before I was diagnosed. Turns out I was stopping breathing over 100 times per hour.

[wonderpug]

When falling asleep I often wake up startled to find that my heart and breathing have stopped. Doesn't affect me after I get to sleep so it's probably panic attacks.

My armchair diagnosis is sleep apnea. I have it and it's the reason I'm on a CPAP machine in stead of pills. With sleep apnea and pills you can go to sleep and not wake up in time.

If it's happening just as he's falling asleep, it might be a form of hypnic jerk.

That fits better than apnea, because once I surrender to sleep I'm good for the night. But my body tries to fight it off, and that's where the panic attacks come from.

Although...

I have apnea and I thought I was sleeping fine before I was diagnosed. Turns out I was stopping breathing over 100 times per hour.

I'm not a doctor but I think you're supposed to always be breathing.

[LawBeefaroni]

Just left the Disney Shareholder meeting. Well done.

Random thoughts...

I think zootopia is going to crush this weekend. Saw some very quick scenes from Rogue One. Nice. Saw some not-yet-finalized scenes from Civil War which meant nothing to me. Saw the usual crazies asking questions but two kids too, it was totally cute and heartwarming. Regretted not pulling the kiddo out of school for a second but she would have hated the businesses portion. Maybe next time. They took all cell phones. All ot them. Was 15 feet from Bob Iger. That's like a millennial being 15 feet frm Kanye West. Roy Disney Jr was there. High fived a stormtrooper. Meeting was about a block away from one of my favorite spots on Michigan Ave, enjoying a Guinness and a Reuben sandwich. Awesome day.

[GreenGoo]

As a parent of 3, Zootopia, while not the worst advertised kids movie, offers almost nothing for people to latch onto, other than cute animals (which has been more than done to death). That said, my kids will watching literally anything if it's new, so there you go.

Based on my presumably adult impressions, it was/is my opinion that Zootopia is going to be an "also ran". I'm surprised to hear you think it's going to be big, although there are factors I can see that might work for it. March break, no competition in this area, hasn't been anything kid centric in awhile.

I just don't get the impression that it's a good movie, or interesting in any way. If it's huge, then it might be despite the marketing, not because of it.

[Skinypupy]

I just don't get the impression that it's a good movie, or interesting in any way. If it's huge, then it might be despite the marketing, not because of it.

While I agree with you that the marketing has been poor, it's currently sitting at a 100% positive rating with 71 reviews in.

I wasn't terribly interested before, but I am now.

[El Guapo]

The preview of it that I saw before some other movie I watched made it look funny.

[stessier]

I can't find the review right this second, but it was a big national reviewer who said this wasn't his favorite animated movie this year or over the past year or two - it was his favorite animated movie - full stop. That is an impressive statement.

[Isgrimnur]

Hopefully it will make up for the lackluster traction of The Good Dinosaur.

[stessier]

The Good Dinosaur was okay, not great. It was missing something. Still, it made $122M domestic and $313M worldwide - not exactly a flop.

[Max Peck]

[LawBeefaroni]

As a parent of 3, Zootopia, while not the worst advertised kids movie, offers almost nothing for people to latch onto, other than cute animals (which has been more than done to death). That said, my kids will watching literally anything if it's new, so there you go.

Based on my presumably adult impressions, it was/is my opinion that Zootopia is going to be an "also ran". I'm surprised to hear you think it's going to be big, although there are factors I can see that might work for it. March break, no competition in this area, hasn't been anything kid centric in awhile.

I just don't get the impression that it's a good movie, or interesting in any way. If it's huge, then it might be despite the marketing, not because of it.

I've seen about 8minutes of it and I'm interested. The long clip they showed today was the rabbit girl leaving home and arriving at Zootopia. Pretty y solid.


It will top big hero 6's opening weekend, IMO.

[LawBeefaroni]

Hopefully it will make up for the lackluster traction of The Good Dinosaur.

During q&a, a girl asked Iger what his favorite movie was. He then asked he hers and she said Good Dinosaur. I would have figured her for a plant except when Iger said he figured it would be Frozen, she emphatically said "No!"


Oh and they also gave us those the force awakens HD download pre order packs.

[GreenGoo]

It will top big hero 6's opening weekend, IMO.

I'll take that bet based on nothing but the tv ads I saw for Big Hero 6 and the tv ads I see for Zootopia.

To be clear, my opinion is based solely on what I've seen advertised on tv channels aimed at kids.

Zootopia has done as much to get my attention as Norm of the North did, which is sitting around 3.3/10 on imdb (no idea how it did on opening weekend). I'm not saying Zootopia is as bad as Norm of the North, I'm saying that it was equally appealing (or unappealing) based on their tv ads.

To be really, really clear, I have no real expectation that my impressions will be correct and that Zootopia is going to flop (Just being Disney pretty much guarantees some success), only that my initial impressions of the movie are not good.

Clearly those that have seen more than a 30 second tv spot disagree with me. That's cool. I'm happy to be wrong. To hear it's some big name reviewer's favourite animated movie of all time...that's hard to believe. Not having seen it, I probably shouldn't be incredulous just yet.

[LordMortis]

I've seen three different extended previews that all eventually centered on the fast hurried rabbit going to the DMV and being forced to listen to a sloth telling a joke.

It didn't do it for me but I'm also not 5.

I remember wanting to see Big Hero 6... And still haven't, so I'm not much of a gauge for what's good neither, either.

[GreenGoo]

I've seen three different extended previews that all eventually centered on the fast hurried rabbit going to the DMV and being forced to listen to a sloth telling a joke.

It didn't do it for me but I'm also not 5.

I remember wanting to see Big Hero 6... And still haven't, so I'm not much of a gauge for what's good neither, either.

Agreed. The slow sloths are almost the entire extent of the tv ads. The Rabbit is a cop as well, I think. Haha! The DMV is just as slow in this movie as it is in the real world, but in the movie, they're sloths! Roflcopters. Actually, don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a funny bit, but it's so short and shown so many freakin' times per hour that it loses all meaning.

Big Hero 6 is pretty good. You should see it LM. It also felt a lot different than other generic, cookie cutter kids movies.

[Isgrimnur]

Where's the hair?!?

NPI analysis indicates that approximately $6.0 million of hair donations are not accounted for by the charity Locks of Love ("LoL") annually. Each year, Locks of Love makes approximately 300 wigs with the 100,000 hair donations it receives.
...
Locks of Love receives an estimated 104,000 hair donations per year (1). LoL indicates that up to 80% of this hair is unusable (2) and that 6-10 hair donations are necessary to make one hairpiece (3). Based on these numbers sourced from Locks of Love, the charity should produce a minimum of 2,080 hairpieces per year (104,000 hair donations * 20% usable hair donations / 10 hair donations per hairpiece). However, NPI has confirmed with they charity's staff that the organization produced only 317 natural hairpieces in 2011 (IRS Form 990 figure of "430 wigs" includes synthetic wigs) (4).

The 1,763 hairpieces that are unaccounted for are worth $6.6 million (LoL states that the retail value of a natural hair wig is between $3,500 to $6,000 and costs $1,000 to manufacture) (5)(6). While Locks of Love discloses that it sold $572,997 of hair in 2011, this leaves $6.0 million of hair unaccounted for by the organization.

Comparisons to other organizations illustrate the significant difference in utilization of hair donations:

Locks of Love. 104,000 hair donations per year divided by 317 hairpieces produced in 2011 = 328 hair donations accepted to produce 1 wig.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths. 65,000 hair donations per year divided by 3,500 hairpieces produced per year = 19 hair donations accepted to produce 1 wig (8).

In other words, it takes Locks of Love 17x as many hair donations to make each hairpiece. Additional organizations that accept donated hair include Ohio-based Wigs for Kids, Children with Hair Loss, and Michigan-based Wigs 4 Kids.
...
Locks of Love indicated that "LOL does not count, catalogue nor maintain lists of hair donations" (7).

NPI asked LoL how many hair donations are sold each year ($573,997 in 2011 reported on IRS Form 990). LoL responded: "As we do not catalogue hair donations, you might imagine that we also do not count unusable hair that is sold..." (7). It is unclear to NPI how it is possible for Locks of Love to sell more than half a million dollars worth of hair without knowing the quantity of hair sold.

In regards to the figure of 2,000 donations per week cited by USA Today and the New York Times, LoL responded: "We are unaware of this "publicly available data" nor do we endorse it" (7). As a result of LoL's inability to provide updated information, NPI relied upon the statements of LoL's executive director as cited in USA Today to estimate the amount of hair donated each year only after reasonable and diligent efforts to obtain updated data.

[LordMortis]

Big Hero 6 is pretty good. You should see it LM. It also felt a lot different than other generic, cookie cutter kids movies.

I should. Seeing the preview reminded me of other child cartoons that were really ways to make grown men cry, like the Iron Giant. I don't know why.

[Daehawk]

Looks like I wont ever donate hair to LoL again. Seems there should be a law requiring them to keep detailed records. Seems they are making money on a scam.

[GreenGoo]

Looks like I wont ever donate hair to LoL again. Seems there should be a law requiring them to keep detailed records. Seems they are making money on a scam.

My daughter has donated twice. She was so proud of herself too.

How anyone can sell something and then with a straight face suggest that it's perfectly ok to have no idea how many/much was sold is beyond me.

How is the money used? Where does it go? If it's still part of helping the charity do charitable work, then, ok, I guess. Not the best but at least it helps fund the charity.

If it's magically disappearing from the "we don't count it, why would we?" coffers, then we have a problem.

[Isgrimnur]

She should be proud of herself. Don't let it dissuade you or her from doing something to help. As noted, there are other organizations that seem to be doing more better work in this space.

[GreenGoo]

She should be proud of herself. Don't let it dissuade you or her from doing something to help. As noted, there are other organizations that seem to be doing more better work in this space.

Yep, we'll have to find something else. Maybe she'd make a good Mad Max blood bag.

[Enough]

I had no idea that Willy Wonka has gotten into food research. Researchers have developed a new strain of seaweed that tastes like bacon and is twice as healthy as kale. Sign me up!

[LordMortis]

I had no idea that Willy Wonka has gotten into food research. Researchers have developed a new strain of seaweed that tastes like bacon and is twice as healthy as kale. Sign me up!

I'll try it. Send some my way.

How do I replace the lard that I cook everything in if I let bacon go, though? Because damn well near everything you can cook on a stove tastes better if you cook it in your leftover bacon lard.

[Isgrimnur]

1 pm on Friday is the perfect time to ask me for a detailed report with multiple layers and an executive rush attached. Really beginning to regret not taking today off.

[Archinerd]

1 pm on Friday is the perfect time to ask me for a detailed report with multiple layers and an executive rush attached. Really beginning to regret not taking today off.

I can help you, I'm not doing much of anything and it's making my afternoon drag.

[Isgrimnur]

I wouldn't do that to an enemy, much less someone that I choose to spend time around. Go ahead and knock off early.

[Smoove_B]

Our house number is one off of the local pharmacy and I swear to all that is holy if Humana doesn't stop trying to fax me something three times every 2 hours I'm going to pull the endocrine system from someone that works for them. Who in the FUCK sets up a fax machine on a Friday night starting at 5pm to repeatedly attempt a fax? Offices are closed and not back in again until Monday. Holy shit, where's the Tylenol?

EDIT: I can't even see straight. Thanks dbt.

[dbt1949]

Austria?

[Smoove_B]

Oh, hey, it happened again at 12:30 am. The CEO of the company actually has an active Twitter account and I'm thinking he'd like to get messages from me regarding HIS GODDAMN COMPANY TRYING TO FAX ME AT HOME AT 1230 IN THE GODDAMN MORNING.