Shower Thoughts MK2

happyninja42

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Wait, owls don't nest? Where do the owl babies hatch??
They don't BUILD nests, to clarify, sorry. Like, the stereotypical bird nest, a little bowl of leaves and twigs, sitting out on a tree branch, they don't do that. According to multiple things I've heard over the years, they will just adopt a naturally occurring hole in a tree, for nesting purposes and children. But they don't carve out a hole like woodpeckers might, and they don't go gather supplies to build one themselves.

OH! Maybe its because of their ears! Their ears are at different heights and that apparently helps them triangulate the source of sounds so maybe the head movement is so they can more easily change how they're hearing things? The sight component is also useful but could be a bonus perk for the main reason.
that's entirely possible as well yes. I suspect it's two fold, auditory and visual. They have REALLY good eyesight, so I suspect them being able to just turn and LOOK at you is highly advantageous, and probably the primary evolutionary benefit? The auditory thing is probably a component too. I know I turn my head to hear things better, as do plenty of animals. So echo location would benefit from a very versatile rotation. Basically, it gives them improved sensory awareness, which is always a plus in the natural world.
 

Chimpzy

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What led to owls being able to rotate their heads around and upside-down? I've often heard it explained that it's because they can't move their eyes but the same is true for all birds but they don't have the same range of movement as an owl. Why does the owl need that much more head movement?
Maybe because they don't make nests, and often just hang out on branches for longer periods of time compared to other birds? So they need more observational radius when keeping eyes out for prey/predators? Genetic drift/variants are really strange, and there isn't any downside to such a trait that I can think of? So it would probably persist by natural selection, simply because it's got nothing but pluses for the creature? *shrugs* That's my two cents at least.
You're both partially right. Owls' eyes are set in a single direction, and they also don't have peripheral vision like we do. So to better be able to detect both prey and other predators, they've evolved a number of adaptations, like arteries that widen as they reach the head creating reservoirs for blood, backup arteries in case that's not enough and extra large cavities in their neck's vertebrae to allow for more slack, enabling them to rotate their heads at greater angles without interrupting blood flow. Their heads, like all birds btw, are also connected by a single socket pivot, whereas we have two, further increasing their flexibility.

Also, not a uniquely owl thing. Most birds, especially birds of prey, have more flexible necks than humans. For example, the red-tailed hawk can turn its head backwards or upside down almost as much as an owl.
 

Xprimentyl

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Someone should write a sticom about a cholo from the Northeastern United States called "The Mayne From Maine."
 

Bob_McMillan

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It's funny that women have complained for years that they need to carry bags since they don't have pockets like men do, and now men have started carrying around bags (not backpacks or suitcases mind you) as part of their fashion style.
 

happyninja42

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It's funny that women have complained for years that they need to carry bags since they don't have pockets like men do, and now men have started carrying around bags (not backpacks or suitcases mind you) as part of their fashion style.
*shrugs* I was carrying about a satchel with my cd player and cd's as a guy decades ago. I do find the lack of pockets by design in women's clothing to be the height of idiocy for fashion but...well, fashion is pretty idiotic no matter how you slice it. But I'm also a guy who used to wear fingernail polish, lipstick, and one of those earrings with a chain that connected up to the top of the ear, like a Bajoran from Star Trek, mostly just to see how many people around me freaked out. It wasn't goth either, it was like blue polish, a golden/amber lipstick, and then silver earring and chain. But damn people weirded out about it all the time.

Compared to that, people looking at me funny for a bag that holds useful stuff? Yeah I have negative fucks to give about that issue. :LOL:
 

Bob_McMillan

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*shrugs* I was carrying about a satchel with my cd player and cd's as a guy decades ago. I do find the lack of pockets by design in women's clothing to be the height of idiocy for fashion but...well, fashion is pretty idiotic no matter how you slice it. But I'm also a guy who used to wear fingernail polish, lipstick, and one of those earrings with a chain that connected up to the top of the ear, like a Bajoran from Star Trek, mostly just to see how many people around me freaked out. It wasn't goth either, it was like blue polish, a golden/amber lipstick, and then silver earring and chain. But damn people weirded out about it all the time.

Compared to that, people looking at me funny for a bag that holds useful stuff? Yeah I have negative fucks to give about that issue. :LOL:
I'm not criticizing dudes who wear bags, I just think its salt on the wound for the ladies lol
 

BrawlMan

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Well, we're at that point now where people are getting tired of bright colors and Fornite looking/art style games (Saints Row reboot trailer). I dislike and don't care of Fornite either, but I don't mind having color in my games. I never ever want to go back to the era gen 7 games color palette. Thankfully, no one is pinning for dog shit brown/gunmetal grey.
 

Chimpzy

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I should probably lay off the apples for a while. My poops are getting disconcertingly firm.
 

Xprimentyl

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Humans really are an exercise in contradiction. The zeitgeist is protecting our privacy and fear of intrusive technologies, then we turn around and demand more convenience from technology which basically mandates less privacy. I'm not talking about hackers or spam/scams that are damaging; I'm talking about people who don't want their location tracked who then turn around and use Goggle Map's traffic monitor not realizing it's using device locations and speeds at which they're moving in aggregate to determine where traffic is flowing and where it's dense. Or insurance companies which use a phone's accelerometer to determine if the owner has been in a wreck to automatically dispatch help.

I mean, I don't want "the guh'ment" or big corporations in my business anymore than anyone else, but at the same time, "my business" is pretty bland. If Facebook wants to know I Googled "Otterbox case for an iPhone 12 Pro," then throw up a bunch of ads for the phone case... fine? Not much they can do save for create another ad I'm going to scroll past. Or if my phone is being tracked everywhere I go... fine? I try not to go any places I shouldn't; if they want to know I went to the grocery store 4 times last week, good luck using that info to extort or blackmail me.
 

ObsidianJones

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So, once more yesterday, I had to get into it with a co-worker why I hate Batman. Or at least, how Batman is now.

And once again, I have to point the finger to his fans. His fans that for some reason make him the most popular hero in DC because he's just a normal guy, but in the same breath say that he's undefeatable and Gods must cower to him.

He is the first fan powered canon Mary Sue. Nothing but strengths, supposed weaknesses that will never come into play, and an untouchable OC that can never be painted badly.

Look at the current media on Superman. How many times has his character been rebooted in the comics and the movies? How he must be gritty to be relatable, how he can't be the genuinely good person that he is because people don't want to see that, how he has to have more and more faults put onto him so he can at least be 'tolerated'.

Will we ever see a reboot for Batman? That Alfred is really the mastermind behind the Bat and Bruce is just the muscle that kicks hard? That Batman is juicing with Venom and is slowly loosing control after he was beaten soundly time and time again? Batman must never be touched by only written to get stronger and better over the years because his fans are getting off on it for some reason, the rest of the universe and logic be damned.

He is the perfection that everyone says they hate, but will accept because they choose that perfection. It's bad writing by the writers and hypocrisy by the fans.

And yes, I am a lot more willing to accept an alien God than a human being that can angle his body in such a manner that will harm said Alien God... after two planets colliding onto the Alien only knocked him out.
 

BrawlMan

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So, once more yesterday, I had to get into it with a co-worker why I hate Batman. Or at least, how Batman is now.

And once again, I have to point the finger to his fans. His fans that for some reason make him the most popular hero in DC because he's just a normal guy, but in the same breath say that he's undefeatable and Gods must cower to him.

He is the first fan powered canon Mary Sue. Nothing but strengths, supposed weaknesses that will never come into play, and an untouchable OC that can never be painted badly.

Look at the current media on Superman. How many times has his character been rebooted in the comics and the movies? How he must be gritty to be relatable, how he can't be the genuinely good person that he is because people don't want to see that, how he has to have more and more faults put onto him so he can at least be 'tolerated'.

Will we ever see a reboot for Batman? That Alfred is really the mastermind behind the Bat and Bruce is just the muscle that kicks hard? That Batman is juicing with Venom and is slowly loosing control after he was beaten soundly time and time again? Batman must never be touched by only written to get stronger and better over the years because his fans are getting off on it for some reason, the rest of the universe and logic be damned.

He is the perfection that everyone says they hate, but will accept because they choose that perfection. It's bad writing by the writers and hypocrisy by the fans.

And yes, I am a lot more willing to accept an alien God than a human being that can angle his body in such a manner that will harm said Alien God... after two planets colliding onto the Alien only knocked him out.
Dude, I haven't seen you in a long while. How have you been?

Your story and rant reminds me about my dad. He actually did not like the Dark Knight Rises, because Batman got beat up. According to him, Batman should never get beat up or should be near invincible when in a fight.
 
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Xprimentyl

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Dude, I haven't seen you in a long while. How have you been?
Yeah, @ObsidianJones, long time, no read! Good to "see" you.

OT, I wonder how many actors watch their own films for their pure entertainment value. Not to critique or masturbate their ego, but because they enjoy them as we plebs do.
 

gorfias

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So, once more yesterday, I had to get into it with a co-worker why I hate Batman. Or at least, how Batman is now.

And once again, I have to point the finger to his fans. His fans that for some reason make him the most popular hero in DC because he's just a normal guy, but in the same breath say that he's undefeatable and Gods must cower to him.

He is the first fan powered canon Mary Sue. Nothing but strengths, supposed weaknesses that will never come into play, and an untouchable OC that can never be painted badly.

Look at the current media on Superman. How many times has his character been rebooted in the comics and the movies? How he must be gritty to be relatable, how he can't be the genuinely good person that he is because people don't want to see that, how he has to have more and more faults put onto him so he can at least be 'tolerated'.

Will we ever see a reboot for Batman? That Alfred is really the mastermind behind the Bat and Bruce is just the muscle that kicks hard? That Batman is juicing with Venom and is slowly loosing control after he was beaten soundly time and time again? Batman must never be touched by only written to get stronger and better over the years because his fans are getting off on it for some reason, the rest of the universe and logic be damned.

He is the perfection that everyone says they hate, but will accept because they choose that perfection. It's bad writing by the writers and hypocrisy by the fans.

And yes, I am a lot more willing to accept an alien God than a human being that can angle his body in such a manner that will harm said Alien God... after two planets colliding onto the Alien only knocked him out.
He does take his lumps. Depends upon who is writing him. I think the next movie looks horrible. 2008 Dark Knight is currently my all time favorite movie.
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2 things on my mind:
1) Just how long can a house fly buzz around? They have to get energy somewhere. I'm dealing with one annoying S.O.B. right now in my office and he won't lite long enough for me to end him.
2) I'm growing a beard. I think it is growing faster now than when I was shaving. Is that a thing?
 

Xprimentyl

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2) I'm growing a beard. I think it is growing faster now than when I was shaving. Is that a thing?
My facial hair has the unique quality of growing rapidly in the first few days after shaving, then stops growing the second I start getting the "you need to shave" comments. I've wanted to try out a beard my whole adult life, but can't get past that stage for some reason. I even tested it once a few years ago, went without shaving for about a month and a half, and never got past the "fell asleep on a bus station bench for a few days" look.
 
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Gergar12

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As soon as we can simulate a human being, and put it into a machine it's over for us.

Basically, machines need a less complex supply chain to maintain themselves while we require a more complex supply chain to even fight a total war and an even more complex one in a peaceful world due to competitive advantage.
 

Bob_McMillan

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These days in the sneaker world, most lifestyle shoes are "classic" silhouettes that were actually once used for sport. It's hard to believe that shoes like adidas Superstars, Converse Chuck Taylors, and literally all the Jordan stuff used to be good for playing basketball in. Sounds painful.

So I was thinking, 30 years from now, what the heck will people consider "classic"? Will they still be the same ones as now? Or will they be the performance focused shoes that we use in sports today? I have a hard time imagining the latter, because most performance shoes these days just do not look good.
 

Drathnoxis

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Does anybody else find it a little suspicious how we've been getting a lot of new users who don't set avatars and only communicate in very short sentences and make very low effort threads? I find it suspicious.
 
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