The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Sharon M sees off-topic astroturf:

Rikibeth@315:

You're right! (Which you already knew.) The Electric Company version had faces in silhouette making the sounds, and the faces and letters on the screen would move closer together until they made the whole word. Odd that I'd remember that one, and not the Sesame Street version, since I know I didn't like the Electric Company as much (they were too shouty).

Eye contact in retail: when I worked at Pier 1 in the early 90s, greeting and making eye contact with everyone that walked in the door was pitched as the best loss prevention measure. They had studies that said 70% of people that shoplifted didn't enter the store intending to do so, and those people could be deterred just by being seen when they walked in.

I don't know how effective it really was, but I do know it took a year or so after I left the job before I stopped turning to face the door in a shop with the right doorbell noise. (I only greeted a customer in another store once. It's funny now.)

My teachers thought I was slow, too. (I wasn't paying attention to the alphabet drills: i is for igloo! Boring! When just a few feet away, there was an entire miniature kitchen with lights and parts that moved!) Mom told them I could already read, and then we had to prove it. She had to talk to several teachers about letting me read what I wanted to over the years.

I read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy early, too, around 10 or so. I picked them up again in my early 20s, and they were entirely different, much longer books. Younger me just plowed through what I didn't understand.

(And the J - et - Jet! thing was more Electric Company than Sesame Street, wasn't it?)

Hyperlexia = me, too! Mom discovered I could read when I was 2 & 3/4s (while Christmas shopping, I'll spare you the story). My parents read to me, and I watched Sesame Street, and apparently that was enough.

But anything with a narrative thread sucks me right in. I'm conscious of reading a few sentences, then there's a movie in my head, and then I'm looking at the back cover of the book. And I think that's why I can't seem to like audio books, they're so slow it's frustrating.

I don't have an extensive posting history here, but that should be Sharon M. Sorry!

I've got the opposite problem - people talk my ears off all the time. (Want to hear strangers vent about their divorce/spouse's heart attack/father's adultery/request advice on funeral etiquette? Stand near me in line at the grocery store!) I've gotten used to it - they clearly don't have anyone else to talk to, and I've usually got a few minutes to listen.

More on point, if you're in the Dallas area, we have Elliots Hardware. They have (mostly) older gentlemen in each department who are delighted to help you find the right part and will also tell you how to use it to repair your toilet (or what have you). It costs a little more in money, but saves a ton in time and aggravation.

Apropos of another long ago open thread, someone was looking for vintage gas masks. American Science & Surplus has Russian ones, in child and adult sizes. (And many other weird and wonderful things!)

#72 is spam, yes?

Max Headroom: you can occasionally find the original issue dvd in the used markets, but it tends to be pricey. And before I knew that, I found a great deal on the whole series! Only $18! For which monies I received somebody's ripped from VHS recordings of the Bravo TV broadcasts. (Still, better than nothing.)

And I'll buy a legal copy just as soon as someone will sell me one!

Open Threadiness: did y'all know that Bookworm Adventures 2 is out from PopCap? (I remember some discussion of the first one, when it came out.) My verdict: fun!

David Dyer-Bennet @ 149: I wasn't a cs major, and the Pascal class was the most introductory class offered - I don't know if it was required for majors or not.

I remember some students having the same questions I did, so they didn't have much experience. But I wasn't in that class for long, myself.

And even though it was clearly better for me to drop the class, I still feel a little guilty for validating the stereotype. And then I feel a little guilty for feeling guilty, since I can't change the past, and it's not like I did anything wrong. And then I get over myself, and try to kick the insomnia again. (tmi? I can never tell.)

My own programming data point - in college, in the 90s, I was one of 3 women in an intro programming class (Pascal) of 25. By the end of the second week, I was the only woman, and it was uncomfortable. My mistakes felt magnified all out of proportion, and the jokes were about as funny then as they are now. When I went to drop the class (I had 21 hours that semester, and it just wasn't worth the hassle), the prof didn't understand why. (He thought it was funny! I should lighten up!)

So I made a web page in 94, then worked part-time for the computing center, then I graduated, and they hired me full time, and I've been making websites freelance for several years now. (Poor shiny never used degree.)

I don't think of what I do as programming - it's just markup, really, and design. And css, and javascript, and sometimes modifying other stuff. You know, not proper programming. And I'm still a little disappointed that I gave up on that class.

C. Wingate @ 57: My sister and brother-in-law live in West Glacier in the summer (say hi to Bill if you see him working in the grocery or the souvenir shop).

It's beautiful there - I haven't been up for a few years now, but you're going at a great time of year.

Anyone else considering a National Park in that vicinity, Glacier is really magnificent. (Try the Going-to-the-Sun road - my sister still laughs at me for making her drive that stretch.)

The link @100 is the Dallas Morning News, but that article doesn't require registration - just click the 'close this ad' ('skip this ad'?) link, and you'll be taken to the article.

Fort Worth's Mayor is calling for a federal review of the raid!

- also wants US Attorney to review the police investigation of what happened
- TABC agents involved have been put on desk duty

I am (cautiously) hopeful.

I don't get the paper version of the paper, but as of today there's at least one article in the online Dallas Morning News.

Want to quest, but afraid of the unknown people/places/situations? The Tough Guide to Fantasyland should prepare you for anything!

Lee @ 53: The raid was in Fort Worth, which is close to but not actually Dallas. (But I'm in Plano, which Dan Savage called the worst city in the US in _Skipping Towards Gomorrah_ - so what do I know.)

And I miss Molly Ivins.

I've seen posts in comment threads that busting people in bars for public intoxication is a tactic used to bring up the arrest counts for these Tarrant County officers, so the gay bars aren't the only ones where people are being arrested. But they are the only ones where people are also being assaulted, and maybe arrested while not even drunk.

More info, MacAllister @ 41, from the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

I saw the headline on a news aggregator site, and thought it was in commemoration. There should be some kind of they're making my state look stupid again quip here, but damn. Not funny.

Summer Storms: I don't know if it would work for you, but if you're talking about a one-time stopgap measure, have you considered throwing a rent party?

Maybe a small cover charge for a marathon viewing of a dvd set, or an in-house audience participation Rocky Horror, or a best macaroni-and-cheese contest could end with a prize of a beaded piece that you've already made?

I think lots of people would like to help, but we don't want to ask, or offer, for fear of insult. Something like a rent party helps make it easier for everyone.

Also fourthing or fifthing Etsy - I'm not any kind of a power seller, but it bought the groceries this month. (Next month, who knows?)

Good luck!

Abi @ 690: You may want to investigate Raynaud's Disease - my sister has it. Some of her fingers get numb when her hands are cold, and it takes a while to warm them back up and get the feeling back. But like the Mayo article says, it's mostly a nuisance for her, not life threatening or anything.

Comment statistics for Sharon M sees off-topic astroturf on the Making Light blog

Total: 97 comments. View all these comments on a single page.