I cannot believe that , I thought it was always the case. There is a cat in the UK prime minister's house that has the title of the chief mouser


Larry! His twitter is@number10cat Of course, the humans behind it don't like Theresa May. I don't understand how the prime minister position works in Britain. It sounds so complicated.


Yeah considering they have a royal too, it makes it a bit more complicated. In Australia the position of the prime minister does not exist in the constitution.


I don't get that either,  especially since the Queen is also their monarch. Yet, the monarchy is supposedly a figurehead. I think Japan has the easiest system to figure out, though that may be my fascination with the gifting of the silver cup to those who turned 100.


And now they are running into issues because too many people are turning 100. They have the highest life expectancy in the world. I guess they will need more cups.


That's still cool. Did you know that Fox news once threatened litigation on The Simpsons?


Oh did not know that, interesting. Did they have a reason for it?


Of course, the best one. In typical Fox fashion, it was to stop them from parodying it's anti-dem agenda, lol


Oh come one, Simpsons is supposed to be as such. As well. Did you know that since 1853 the president has been either a democrat or a republican?


Yep. We only have two parties, and weird enough. There are some in the Tea Party movement who are dems.


Yeah it seem 15% of them, pretty good chunk.


I dont. i do like basketball though. it is a fun sport.


Did you know basketball is a team sport? How many players are on each team usually?\


yes i did. i think there are 12 players on a team?


No, only 10. Do you like baseball or basketball more?


i like basketball more. more action, more flow. baseball is slow. only 18 minutes of action a game.


Baseball has the 2400 plus games a year, that's a lot to watch so could get bored pretty easily. Not as much as swimming though


I would want to watch just the highlights of the baseball game. About two minutes worth. I hate swimming. Boring and I'm bad at it.


Same here Did you ever watch Kareem Abdul Jabbar play? His dunks were ridiculous. He brought a lot of excitement to the game even though the dunk was banned in college after.


i guess he was so dominant with that shot that the league thought it was unfair. i think they should have changed the size of the key or something.


no one in baseball or swimming had that type of game. who is your favorite team?


i dont have a favorite, but i guess i like golden state. they are fun to watch. im not really a fan though.


yah very fun watch to for sure. how many more championships do you think they can win before they are split apart?


i dont know. does basketball have a salary cap? that usually does in championship teams.


they dont i dont think so, that's how the yankees always had so many high priced players


baseball doesnt have a cap. football does. i dont know about basketball.


football does and baseball does, basketball has some sort of weird cap that allows for superstars


i figure that it was golden state's turn to have a great team. if the lakers had done the same thing, there would not have been a problem. the nba really like LA.


LeBron will win a few more championships with the Lakers, I can guarantee it.


They are a couple games below 500 right now, it's a rebuilding year for sure.


Ok, they'll get it together. Anyway, great chat! Have a great day!


hi how are you? what do you think about tom hanks?


he is a great guy! i think he is a great guy and a tremendous actor. what film of his is your favorite?


I like cast away. I thought his transformation was great. What is your favorite?


i liked him in forrest gump. he was also great in that spy film that he did with spielberg.


I cant remember but it was about the cold war and a guy that hanks had to defend in court.


I remember that now. That was out like last year or the year before, right?


yeah, it was pretty recent. hanks was a principled lawyer that wanted to give a vigorous defense to a man who was a threat to national security.


Kind of sounds like Philedelphia! But the other side of the law.


yeah, that was also a good film. he is very good at portraying sympathetic characters. i know that he does not play bad guys.


He was originally cast as mario in super mario brothers. Can you imagine him in that role?


yeah, kinda? I think that he can do a good job in many roles, but is that movie good enough for him? Oh, he was also in the post with streep. that was fun.


I am not sure I saw that one. Did you see it? I did see toy story. I love that movie.


Yeah, the voice casting in that film was excellent. the story was great and the animation was top notch. i know that tom's brother does some work there.


I always thought that was tom. The old bait and switch.... I never saw Apollo 13. I feel like I am the only one.


It was a great film about the US space program. i recommend it because it shows what america is capable of.


That is a good example of american ingiuity. Did you read about google's aggressive mode in their self driving cars?


i did not, but that sounds like just the sort of thing that shouldnt be in a self-driving car. LOL.


I know. There should be a "be careful so you don't hit a pedestrian" mode!


Yeah, or "please dont get google into a lawsuit" LOL Anyway, great chat!


Do you enjoy piano music?  I love to listen.  Did you know that in 1930 one day there was no news that was worthy of reporting so they broadcast piano music


I do love listening to jazz. Boy, what a nice day that would be-no bad news, just piano music!


Bohemian Rhapsody was a classic song.  Did you know that Freddie mercury used the same piano to record bohemian rhapsody as paul mccartney used to record hey jude?


That's a pretty special piano! Speaking of special pianos, there was a light aluminum on on the airship hindenburg.


I don't think so but I'm not sure. Also, someone put a piano on the top of Britain's highest mountain. Some climbers found it in 2006!


I wonder if it was still in tune :)  Did you know that the Ramones played 2,263 concerts over 20 years touring almost non-stop.


If you visit Croatia, you can see an ancient Roman amphitheatre that is still used as a concert venue


Speaking of ampitheaters that are still in use, Pink Floyd recorded a live concert at the ancient Roman theater in Pompeii in 1972. However, there was no audience.


I wish I could have at least been outside the perimeter looking in!


Yeah, that would have been awesome. What an eerie experience.


Creed once gave a concert in 2002 that was so bad that four concert goers filed a lawsuit against the band.  Must have been really bad.


Linkin Park must have been better at performing live. They played 324 concerts in 2001.


Sounds like it!  Also The Dark Side of the Moon must have been a great album because 40 years later they still are top selling as of 2014


Nice! I'm more interested in listening to a rap album released by 100 year old Japanese twins.


Me too! Do you have any vinyls still?  I still have some audio tapes which are sentimental to me.  But sales mostly today are focused on CD and MP3 formats


I do not have any vinyls. Yeah, I grew up in the audio tape generation. I used to buy singles on cassettes.


Nwa's straight outta compton was the first platinum status album even though they didn't have airplay support or a major tour


That's interesting. I'm not sure if I've ever listened to them. What a great feat before the internet!


It's a changed world with all the media exposure.  Nice talking to you!


Would you vote if you had to walk through tiger-infested forests on the way as occurs in india?


I liked big as well. Turner & Hooch was my least favorite of his movies.


Too much drool?  I also enjoyed Hanks and Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail"  Can you believe it was release over twenty years ago?


It doesn't seem like it's been that long. I think it's neat he won't play bad guys.


Yeah, although he has a way of being lovable and menacing at the same time with his loud expressive voice in the Toys series of movies.


I didn't know that he was the voice for Sheriff Woody in Toy Story, my kids love it.


Absolutely. I even enjoyed him in the movie, Larry Crowne. Funny that Hanks once refunded the ticket price for a dissatisfied viewer of that movie.


I haven't seen Larry Crowne. I enjoyed A league of Their Own,


Lots of gems in the Hanks arsennal. One of his best was the movie, Castaway, where he was the sole actor for most of the movie.


Yes, that was good. It was funny and kind of cool how he talked to those balls.


Wilson! Yup, no surprise that Hanks is the highest all-time box-office star!


Yes! I try to watch it every year. Still hoping to get to that mouse circus in Florida some day and watch a mouse drive a car.  You know in Australia it is illegal to equip a vehicle with flame flowers? But not at the mouse circus!.


Really, I thought it was wild that McDonlads added the drive thru for soldiers who couldn't get out because they were in their fatigues,


Cool!  Tome Hanls worn fatigues in the movie, Saving Private Ryan, I meant to write "flame throwers" earlier, not "flame flowers" ...Auto spell-check strickes again!


That was a good movie, but it was so long.


The Hanks movie, Allo 13, was long too, but I loved every minute. ANd as an aastronaut, he could have voted while in outer space!


It sure was! But it is safe to say the 1984 movie, Splash, was not a true story. There are no real mermaids in hollywood.


Yea, it would be wild to see a real mermaid, Wonder how he can always end a email with a pun.


Sounds neat, but who has access to every one of his emails every written? It's been nice chatting!


I do like sports yeah, swimming is one of my favorite ones.


i really dont like swimming. i am not good at it. how often do you swim?


I have a pool at home but I dont swim often, did you hear about that swimsuit that was so good it got banned from competition ?


i did not. i wonder if that swimsuit would help me LOL. the US has won a ton of medals in the olympics i know


Yeah in fact more than the rest of the world combined and Phelps more than 80% of the countries.


the guy is a machine. how does he do it? i cant barely get across the pool.


I know right, so many gold medals and awards earned by one single player. Do you know who Tim Duncan is?


Yeah and he was also a swimmer in fact he had an Olympic level but then quitted because of an natural occurrence at his town.


He quit because of a natural occurrence? what was it?


There was a hurricane that destroyed his practicing pool and then he started to practice in the ocean but qui later because he was afraid of sharks.


that is too bad. he must have been a tremendous swimmer.  i know that he chose to go to college instead of the NBA


I know right he is a natural athlete that is a sure thing, great swimmer and also great basketball player.


I would have gone right into the nba. money like that is hard to get. i figure that i could go to college any time.


Yeah but many players do end broke at then end of their careers so I think he made the right call there.


Ok. if it worked out for him, great. i have seen players get injured and they cant play. it is pretty hard to get to play pro ball.


It must be hard I agree, do you like the Harlem Globetrotters?


I do like them. they are phenomenal players and entertainers. I have never seen them live though. have you?


I haven't either I wish I can one of these days well the faced the Washington Generals and won about 13,000 times


that is embarrassing, but i probably couldnt do any better. the globetrotters are great with kids. ANyway, great chat!


Yeah they are on completely different level, its been great chatting I agree, have a nice day, its time for lunch bye.


Hey there!  I have never known how to play piano, but I have always been fascinated.  Must be something to it if it is till around after 300+ years!


I agree!  I can't believe that they were created around 1700 by Bartolomeo  Cristofoir!


In Italy too, I think I would have guessed Austria or France prior to knowing that!


I know right?  On April 18, 1930 the BBC decided there was no news worth reporting so they just broadcast piano music instead.  No news is good news!


Haha, yea that must have been refreshing!  Speaking of broadcasts, Richard Nixon of all people, preformed a piano concerto on The Tonight Show!


Who would have known that?  I can't picture his grumpy looking face doing his best Schroeder (from Charlie Brown) impression. lol


Haha!!  Do you go to concerts much?  I am a music fan, but never really go because I always think most artists sound worse live.


I do love going to them.  Not as much as I used to though.  I agree.  I do though like when they actually play the music and not have recordings playing to fill out the sound.  ... or even help with singing.


Yea, they are a bit too loud for my liking too.  Three audience members once fell unconscious during a Deep Purple concert as they broke the record for world's loudest concert!  That is awful!!


Oh man...I'm surprised they didn't sue the band. lol  The Ramones played a total of 2,263 concerts over a 20 year span.  That's a lot of shows over a long time.


Holy cow!  And they can't get Abba out of retirement.  They were offered 1 billion to do a 100 show tour and they said no!!!


They must already be filthy rich.  That's crazy to turn down that much money.  That would set their families up for the next few generations at least.


Totally!  I do not think Abba would break any noise records like Deep Purple.  Foo Fighters however once played so loud in New Zealand, the concert showed up on seismic monitors!


That's pretty loud!  Holy moly!  Do you have any favorite albums?


I think Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Greatest Hits is probably my favorite album.  How about you?


Hmmm....that's a tough call.  I'm fond of my early albums still.  It would have to be a Partridge family record I got.  It was the first one I ever had!  lol


That is great.  The classics never go out of style!  Bob Marley has been on the album charts for over 914 weeks!


That's incredible.  Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon was still one of the best selling albums of 2014 after being released over 40 years earlier.  Right up there with Bob Marley!


Yup both legendary!  Just don't buy any of those at Walmart because they only sell clean versions :(


Pretty soon we won't be able to buy music at Walmart.  I've watched my local walmart shrink their cd aisle down to one itty bitty 6 foot section now.  I had a good time chatting with you!


Haha, yup.  It was great chatting with you too, have a good one!


hey did you know that baseball managers can actually play for their teams if necessary?


ya I think so, I don't really like baseball do you? I think it's really boring


I think it is boring too but I love it. Do you like it?


well I can't say I do haha it just doesn't keep my attention, it is interesting that it is super popular in Japan though, not sure why that is


Have you seen one of the japanese games? They are super fun and the fans never sit down. It's crazy! The players are stars too. They enjoy playing the game.


Nope I should check it out I guess, I haven't been to japan what about you?


I have not. I would love to go but I am a little afraid of foreign cultures. Have you been?


no I haven't but I am going next year, I want to travel through Asia and visit a bunch of countries, do you like basketball at all?


I do like it. Do you? What countries are you going to?


Well I want to go to the Phillippines for sure, Japan, and maybe go to China since I'm over there, but Japan and the Phillippines are my top two, do you travel at all?


I do travel. I have two little ones so when I travel, they go with. Most of my upcoming travel will center around them. Do you have a travel companion you are going with?


yes I'm going with some of my friends actually, and I know some peopel who live over there so that should be fun, can't believe the inventor of basketball is the only losing coach in his teams history though thats funny haha


Sounds like a fun time. Are you planning your trip now on what to see, like the Great Wall of China?


haven't done too much exact planning yet but yes I'd see that, I really want to just see how life is over there, it's going to potentially be a bit of a culture shock haha


Yeah. I am 6'6" and I think I would be stared at. I get stared at here so I can only imagine. My Mexican friend's family are so intrigued and a little scared of me. His mom is like 5'1". I am a giant compared to his family!


haha I bet if you travelled to asia they would take pictures of you! I know thats what they did with my one really tall friend who went there


Probably. Too bad I am nothing but tall! If I could only monetize my height, besides little people asking me to get the cereal on the top shelves at the grocery store...


haha you should have been a baseketball player! maybe you'd get invited to play at the court on top of teh supreme court, they call it the "highest court in the land" haha


I do not want to get crossed over by RBG so I will pass. Losing to to the justices would be so embarassing.


haha it would, also I think it's embarrassing that the dunk was banned for over a year, that is like a basketball signature move


Have you noticed that Tom Hanks is never a bad guy in his films? Apparently he refuses to play the villain role.


I actually never noticed that but come to think of it, I can't recall him ever playing a bad guy. I suppose when you're the highest ranked box office star of all time, you can play whatever role you want!


Yea, I didn't realize he had the highest worldwide earnings in film - $8.5 billion!


That's insane, isn't it? Must be nice! Ha! You know, he once refunded a couple's ticket price after they complained about the movie Larry Crowe. I suppose it's easy to do it when your films earn that amount of money!


Yea, and I assume he must have a lot of pride in his work. He's had enough great performances though - especially when he played Walt Disney. I'm surprised it was the first time any actor portrayed him in a film.


Same here. Really hard to believe that! So what's your favorite Tom Hanks movie? Mine would have to be 1995's Apollo 13 as I've always been fascinated with space and astronauts. I always wondered if astronauts voted early or late and come to find out, they actually vote from space! Weird, huh?


I would probably say Castaway is my favorite. Yea, I'm not sure how they get their vote from space - through NASA? There are some even weirder voting environments than space - apparently Indian government has set up booths in a forest full of lions.


Thats a good question regarding how they actually vote. And speaking of which, 34% of African American Alabamians have lost the right to vote. I wonder how and why that is?


Hm yea that's a surprising large percentage - they lost the right to vote permanently too. It seems to be due to incarceration - you can't vote if you'


That is true! I didn't consider that. The voting issue always seems complex. In fact, up until 1918, not every male in the UK had the vote either!


Yea, life is just not fair sometimes. In 1975, soldiers weren't even allowed to get out of their cars while wearing their fatigues, so that's why places like McDonald's added a drive-thru.


Wow! Really? That makes sense, I suppose! Speaking of cars, did you know it's perfectly legal for south Africans to carry flamethrowers in their cars to prevent carjackings? I can't believe it!


That is crazy! I suppose that would have been really bad for everyone if that happened back in the old days when the trunks were actually wooden.


Ha! No kidding! Wonder if Karl Benz ever envisioned that when he first patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen?


Probably not! It would be quite a stretch to go from the Ford 1908 Model T, which was replacing animal-drawn carriages and carts, to cars with flame-throwers on them.


That's so true. And by the way, are you familiar with the Cadillac brand? Did you know it was named after the guy who founded Detroit - Antoine De La Mothe Cadillac?


Yea, Cadillac makes nice cars. I think a lot of car companies have roots in Detroit - that must be why it's called the Motor City.


Agreed! I suppose the Motor City is the main reason why the US adopted and accepted automobiles much faster than it did in Western Europe.


Yea, the US has always had a passion for cars, but Britain does too. A British guy named Jann Mardenborough became a race car driver after beating 90,000 people in the video game Gran Turismo.


That is wild! All because of a video tame? That's rare to have two types of talent like that. If they ever make a movie about his life, perhaps Tom Hanks could play the role of Jann! Ha!


Same to you! You know, Tom Hanks can almost always end his emails with a pun. Too bad we can't do the same! Ha!


Yea, I had to think about that one. I guess it means he can always say T. Hanks!


I was surprised to learn the piano was invented in 1700. For some reason I thought it was way earlier than that!


I was surprised too. They say the piano wasinvented in 1700 but the year is uncertain.


Can you imagine the amazing life of that piano shared by Freddie Mercury and Paul McCartney?


I would have love to be that piano! Did you know that there's a song used to test pianos called "circus galop" that can't even be played by humans? I would love to see someone try that!


That's hilarious, I bet the "circus galop" could do some real damage to a poor, unsuspecting piano not ready for the stress!


I think the piano could handle the stress but if a human tries to play "circus gallop" they'll definitely be in for some stress of their own.


Apparently a group of climbers found a piano at the top of Britain's highest mountain. How do you imagine they got the piano up there in the first place? Sheer strength or helicopter?


Helicopter would be a reasonable way to leave a piano at the top of Britain's highest mountain. My theory is that someone climbed the mountain and built the piano when they reached the top.


You're probably right. That does make me wonder if the piano was in good playing condition or not..


Maybe the piano was aluminum and was able to stand the cold temperatures up there. Speaking of aluminum pianos, there was an aluminum grand piano built for the lounge of the airship hindenburg. Isn't that cool?


Super cool! I wonder if the aluminum affected the sound in any way - I imagine it would sound somewhat tinnier. "Only" 356 pounds?! Didn't know that was on the lower range of piano scales!


Yes, I feel like the aluminum piano would have an echo. Pianos are very heavy! 356 lbs. doesn't sound so bad. 5 men had to carry my sister's piano. It must have been heavier!


Wow, I just read that Pink Floyd recorded a live concert with no audience. The ticket prices for that today would be insane!


That's so heartbreaking knowing that they went through that. Looks like the Romans were not fans of Pink Floyd! I just read that a concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. So, was it really a concert with no audience? Hm.


I believe they did it on purpose - perhaps for effect? or just to be ironic I think.. But wow touche! Now that you mention it, I personally wouldn't really classify that as a performance either. Although perhaps they did intend it for a future audience!


It would have been nice if their fans were able to participate! Speaking of concerts, did you know that in 2002, there was a Creed concert that was so bad that 4 concert-goers filed a lawsuit against the band? Can you imagine that? I wonder if they won the lawsuit.


Wow that is so embarassing. If I was apart of Creed, I'd definitely reconsider any future tours. I wonder if they ever perform? I haven't heard of them doing anything really!


The experience was probably so bad that they decided to go under wraps because I haven't heard of them in a long time either! You know who never stopped touring? The Ramones. Everyone loved them. They actually played a total of 2,263 concerts. That's a lot of concerts!


That's an insane amount of concerts! Linkin Park's 324 concerts pale in comparison. Too bad they can't go on tour anymore RIP Chester Bennington!


Wow! Well, Linkin Park did 324 in just one year. I wonder how much they did in total? They were a great band and Chester was so taltented.


It was lovely speaking with you! Merry Christmas!


I like basketball. sometimes football and baseball. You?


I like those and also like swimming and soccer


that is good. those are good sports. i never liked swimming much.


You dont? I guess its a boring sport I am a fan but because of Michael Phelps he makes the game exciting


he is a great swimmer. i prefer team sports more. how many medals has phelps won?


I dont know how many but more that 80% of the countries in the history of the Olympic games, so a lot


the man is a force to be reckoned with. What is up with cornell? All cornell university students must pass a basic swimming test before they're allowed to graduate.


I think thats good, swimming is basic survival skill,  do you know who Tim Duncan is?


was he a basketball player? the name is familiar.


Yeah he is a basketball player, he was a great swimmer as well almost at an olympic level, he had to quit though


i did not know that. he was a good swimmer. hm. i know that he decided to go to college first.


A hurricaine destroyed his practicing pool and he had to practice in the ocean, he then quit because of the fear he had of sharks


i bet he was. i would be afraid of sharks too. i dont like to swim in the ocean.


I dont like swimming in the ocean either its really hard to do so, good thing he became a basketball player though


what do you think of the banning of the dunk shot because of Kareem?


I think thats unfair, if the other players cant do it then thats no reason to ban that wonderful move from the sport


True. he was a dominant player. they wanted to stop him. Anyway, great chat!


Yeah I think thats unfair and its been a great chat, I agree, have a nice day.


I've been known to, what about you? I wish we could do it remotely.


Like astronauts?  They vote from space lol


Yes, I think people would be much more inclined to participate if they could just vote online, especially for local issues. Citizens of Austin, TX voted to rename a garbage dump after Fred Durst, so just imagine the possibilities! if people had easy access to choices like that!


I guess, yeah maybe more people would vote.  thats pretty insulting to Fred Durst,  that is so negative.


Yes, although it could also lead to people naming items after like more positively viewed celebrities like Tom Hanks.


Thats true,  but that garbage situation shouldnt even have been an option.


I guess that's why most items require signatures to get on a ballot, and people have to drive to the polls to show they genuinely care. Do you drive?


Yes i do drive.  Did you know Tom Hanks refuses to play bad guy roles?  That is interesting,  must be nice to be able to pick and choose what role to play lol


Yes, but he is also the biggest box office star of all time by ticket sales, so he's kind of a boss.


I hear he always ends his emails with a pun lol funny.


Yes, that is funny, and he also refunded the price of a couple's tickets when he found out they didn't like his movie Larry Crowne.


aw thats nice,  probably didnt hurt his pockets much.


Yes, I wonder how many cars he has with all that wealth.


I am. My grandfather worked for GM, so it's in my blood, as is disliking Ford haha.


Yes, the Ford Model T was one of the first widely available cars in America in 1908 and caught on pretty quickly, but they weren't adopted so rapidly in other parts of the world.


Did you know it's legal to put a flame thrower on your car in south africa?  do any of the fords have flame throwers? lol


I hope not, although South Africa is not exactly as safe as America. It's pretty crazy that McDonald's developed the drive-thru to accommodate American soldiers who couldn't exit the cars in their fatigues.


That is quite considerate!  and now everyone is accommodated by this service!  love the drive thru


Yes, cars and fast food, quite the American pair! Although Cadillac is actually named for a French explorer who founded Detroit.


What topics are you interested in discussing?


Piano is fine.  Did you know there was an aluminum grand piano?


Yes, I heard one that was built for the lounge of the airship Hindenburg that weighed only 356 pounds. That was very light for a grand piano.


Seems like it would slide around on the airship then lol.


Yes, I would think so. I also enjoy piano concerts. Do you like live music performances?


Love them.  I like band Concerts mostly.  You?


I went to see a piano concert by John Legend in the past.  Yes, I enjoy good piano concerts.


Lucky!  I bet he would sound good in an acient roman amphitheater


I think so.  In Croatia, there is an ancient roman amphitheater that is still being used as a concert venue.


Do you think they would let creed play there?


I am sure as long as they are willing to pay.  Creed had a concert that was so bad that people filed a lawsuit against them.


I guess you are right, pink floyd played there with no audience!


I heard that they did that in 1972.  I wonder why they did not want to have no audience.


I dont know.  Linkin park did 324 concerts in 2001


That was a lot in one year! I think it had to do with the success of their first album.


That was a lot!  Was it within a year though?


Linkin Park did 324 in one year - Ramones probably did less on a yearly basis.


That is almost one daily, crazy.  Take care and nice chat


It was nice chatting with you too. Have a nice weekend!


I do, though I dont do it well.  Lol.  You?


I do it so well when I have had a few drinks lol. I turn into bruce lee or michael jackson


I tend to be more of a Bruce Lee in the dojang then on the dance floor.  LOL


lol, or tupac when he did ballet in high school


Were just adding to the list of people who dance better than I do.  apparently we can add babies to the list too.  LOL


lol me too. My 10 month old can bust a move, it is just natural for babies i think


One thing we have in common is I smile when I hit the beat too.


I do.  I am a bit addicted I think.  How about you?


me too lol I just creep on others, I unadded some friends a little bit ago for a free whopper, it was nice!


I could eat for a while doing that.  LOL


for sure lol, I am sure i could get at least 100 whoppers


I bet myspace is regretting that decision to not buy Facebook now.


for sure, I wonder if anyone still uses it even, last time i heard justin timerblake owned some of it


I dont know.  I remember having a profile on there, but doubt I even remember my login.


for sure lol, That was high school in a nut shell. They could have bought facebook for like 75 million only


Compared to the 104 BILLION it is work now.  Crazy, it really took off.


right! I used to be all about facebook. Good chatting with you!


The Fringe festival sure looks like a nice event to attend


I would check it out. I guess there is sex talk in there. That sounds really screwy


It does, I think that ''A Two Woman Hamlet'' is going to be an interesting event to watch,


I actually do like Shakespeare though. What about you ? Did you know he was born in 1564


Wow almost 500 years ago and he still influences our culture, movies, books


I agree it's crazy. He wrote almost 40 plays 150 sonnets two Long poems and a lot of other verses


Thats a lot of them, he died in Statford, three years after he retired


That's sad. He also married a girl named Anne Hathaway. It's funny that that is a current celebrity actress haha


I guess she was named after Shakespeare's wife, do you know if he had children? he might have descendants to this day


Yes they had three kids together. That's a good question maybe they are related haha. Did you know that back in Shakespeare's time people had a different era accent? That's what makes some of his Rhymes work and that they don't work now because you don't use the same accent


I  didnt but thats an interesting fact just like he was alive at the same time as Pocahontas


That is an interesting fact. What is sad is that we don't have a lot of evidence from his private life. We don't know a lot about how he looked or his religious beliefs or other things like that


It is sad, his an icon of our culture and yet theres so much we dont know about him, he invented several names, Miranda, Jessica, Olivia, all popular names


Well those are really popular. He also used the technique that is called functional shift which is where you make a grammatical error to draw attention to what is being said


That seems like a great technique, anyways do you have a Facebook account?


I do have a Facebook account. But I don't really use it it's really just for work haha. What about you


I have one and use it to keep in touch with friends mostly, its amazing how much Facebook has grown over the years, Zuckerberg made his dream big


Yes I agree with you. What's funny to me is that a third of all divorces from 2011 mention the word Facebook. I wonder what that was about haha


I guess someone forgot to log out of his or her account or protect it with a stronger password lol, did you hear about the Burger King promotion?


No I didn't what did that entail? What's crazy is that there are more people on Facebook than there were people in the world 200 years ago


If you unfriended 10 people you would earn a free whopper, and that is a crazy stat, I guess almost everyone has a facebook now, even animals


Wow I didn't know that the animals can have a Facebook account. did you know that Facebook has custom gender options? They have like fifty-eight now


I love his work actually. He even popularized many words and phrases we use today


Yes  like, good riddance, in my heart of hearts, wild goose chase. He was amazing


Yeah. He lived at the same time as Pocahontas too


Yeah they only dies a year apart, small world


Yeah it is, I wonder what play he would have written had he known about her


Oh good point there. Tchaikowsky donated his skull in hope it would be used in one of his plays


Yeah and I am glad he got his wish as it was used for the skull of Yorick and then in Hamlet


Yeah I am glad about that. Did you know he also invented some women's names?


Yeah pretty names like Miranda, Jessica and Olivia.


Yeah they are pretty. His works have a different meaning when the old accent is used versus the modern ones


Yeah and you cannot get the puns if you use modern age accents


Yeah better to keep them as they are I guess. He did a lot of work to be wasted


From time to time. Did you ever use MySPace too?


I did and man did they make a big mistake by not buying facebook when they could


Yeah they could have spent $75 million and make billions by now


Yup pretty much. Do you know why it is blue?


Yes it is because Mark is colorblind and cannot see green and red


Yeah, he played it smart to accommodate himself. The like button is also illegal in some parts of Germany


I wonder why though, it seems strange to have such a ban


Do you have any interest in Shakespeare? I took a college course on his works a few years ago


He's that fellow that wrote all them plays. No, I don't know much about him.


He's known as the greatest writer in the English language, and he wrote poems as well as plays


That's good to know. I will remember his name. When did he live?


He was born in 1564 and died in 1616 and found most of his success in London. He died only three years after retiring


I guess he wrote a lot of plays and poems then. There are many movies based on his works, I know.


He also invented names that are widely used today such as Olivia, Jessica, and Miranda


Does Shakespeare have a Facebook page though? Can he really be that famous these days?


I think he's famous for writing things people use all the time. Like the phrase "break the ice"


He made the language rich. Unlike Facebook, which seems bent on destroying English.


I don't think that's Facebook's fault, but rather those who are on Facebook. I cringe sometimes when I read what people post. They need to read more Shakespeare for sure. He was alive at the same time as Pocahontas, and everyone knows that name as well


Oh, what Shakespeare could have done on Facebook if he were alive. Pocahontas is the name given to Senator Warren, proud native American that she is.


There are some people using Facebook for good, like the Icelandic government. It's one of the tools they're utilizing to rewrite their constitution


I could see some problems happening because of that. I would be careful. The Internet is filled with miscreants and hackers.


They use it more for suggestions and alterations. I'm not exactly sure how that works though. Another thing that would be hard to verify is if you really unfriended 10 people when Burger King was doing their promotion. Maybe people got the free Whopper based on the honor's system


I made friend and unfriend just to get them Whoppers.


I missed out on that one. Facebook might not be popular in Schleswig-Holstein. That particular state has ruled that the "like" button is illegal


Germans are not allowed to like things. That would lead to fun. I wonder if Facebook causes divorce in Germany.


Or they gave up on social media after MySpace turned down the offer to buy Facebook in 2005. Back in the day


Nobody knew the power of the Internet. Myspace least of all. Well, I enjoyed chatting!


Looks like we've all learned our lesson now


Are you into social media, like Facebook?


Not really.  I have never gotten into sharing a lot online with people I do not know.  But, I can see how it could be good for businesses and government to connect with customers and constituents.    Iceland is rewriting its constitution via Facebook.


Well i see both pro's and con's. Can you imagine some of the absurd requests that they will get.


Undoubtedly so.  I primarily use it to see what are the lunch specials are at my favorite rural diners.   Other than that, I general stick to email.  But, Facebook is definitely a powerhouse with an IPO of 104 billion!


That was back in 2012 im pretty sure its worth a lot more now. Myspace has to be kicking themselves.


They really lost out when they had the opportunity to buy Facebook for $75 million.  You can find about anything on Facebook.  I just checked and saw William Shakespeare has a live Facebook page!  Are you / have you read his works?


Of course. do you know why facebook is blue?


I read that its because Mark zuckerberg is red-green colorblind.  I also heard that in parts of Germany, the Facebook "like": button is illegal.  I wonder what is the rationale behind that?"


Sounds crazy, can't think of one sane reason why. Did you know that Bruce lee won an award and it wasn't for martial arts?


I heard he was an outstanding dancer and won an award in Hong Kong in a Cha-Cha championship.  Having such good coordination from being a martial arts champion must carry over to dance.  I am not much of a dancer myself, but do like the arts.  Did you know ballet dancers can go thru 4 pairs of shoes a week?


I did not know that but i guess it makes since always walking on the toes. Hey Michael Jackson has a patent.


He obviously had his own dance style, like the "Moonwalk",  What was the patent for?


The lean he did, the only person i ever seen do it that far out was Jamie Foxx.


I guess i have to look into in later to see how the device works.  But dance, or at least rhythm is innate human trait.  It is said that babies can spontaneously dance when they hear music.


Yeah that sounds about right. they also can instinctively swim. Believe it or not my Tupac danced ballet in high school.


So, what is your favorite Shakespearian work?


There just to many to choose from. however did you know that Shakespeare and Pocahontas were alive at the same time.


That was news to me!..What I find interesting is that it was Shakespeare who coined we use today such as "good riddance", "wild goose chase", ...  I would have thought those idioms were of more recent origins!


Me too! Apparently he invented the names Miranda, Jessica, and Olivia.


What I find interesting is that the composer Tchaikowsky must have been a great fan of Shakespeare's "Hamlet", considering he donated his skull to be a prop as the Skull of Yorick.  And, as recently as 2008 it was used for that purpose!


Now that is very interesting! he was certainly an icon. well nice talking with you.


Don't subscribe regularly, but admire company's 2007 business decision to introduce streaming media. Smart move?


I think so.  They have 137 million world wide subscribers now!


That's a lot. Sad that mainland China, Syria, N. Korea & Russian-snatched Crimea can't get it. What shows does Netflix produce now?


Their fist one was Lilyhammer, but now they have a lot of good ones like The Ranch and Stranger Things (which is good...kind of like a Goonies type show).


I see. Have friends who subscribe just to watch old episodes of police drama tv shows. With almost 60 million US subscribers,  guess folks have lots of diff. reasons for using Netflix (?)


It's awesome for watching old shows.  We binge watch a lot during the winter.  It's nice to catch old shows you might have missed when they were out.


You're not alone. During peak hours, netflix is using 33% of all North America's bandwidth, and with YouTube, makes up half of peak internet traffic. Do you also use Amazon?


I do use Amazon. I have Prime.  Use it for the packages and you also get Amazon Prime video with it which is just like Netflix.


Right. More choices! Didn't realize that Amazon is now the world's largest Internet retailer. That's huge!


It's good and bad.  Nice that you can now get packages delivered any day of the week.  Even on Sundays because they have a contract with the US postal service to deliver their packages on Sundays.  Bad because I think we're going to see brick and mortar stores closing at a faster pace within the next few years.


Agree. Blockbuster is going downhill. Too bad they didn't purchase Netflix for $50M when they had a chance...now worth over $2B, I've heard.


I just read where there's only 1 Blockbuster left in Washington.  The 2nd to last one closed this past week.


See? You're right about brick & mortar slip-sliding away. Meanwhile Amazon & Netflix, both privately owned, thrive. Did you know Amazon named a building after their 1st customer, who spent $27.95!?


That's interesting.  I wonder if the 1st customer knew that was going to happen when he made the purchase?


Prob. not. Bet he bought a book, which is how Amazon got started. Certainly diversified, didn't they?


Oh yeah...they got their fingers everywhere now.  Did you know they have owned IMDB since 1998?  Probably got that site so they could direct people to Amazon to buy the movies. lol


I guess. Like the name, Amazon, as in warrior. Also love the Chinese company, Alibaba, as in magical. So much of the internet does seem like magic. Do you agree?


It does!  I can't believe how far it's come since it was created around 30 years ago.  I remember going to the video rental stores to rent VHS tapes.  Now I just have to click the remote and watch either Netflix or Amazon.  I kind of miss going to the video stores though.  It was somewhat exciting to take the family out on a Friday night and load up on movies to watch for the weekend.


Yes .Remember. Rented a flick or just $1. Amazon produces films and tv shows now. Watch The Grand Tour. Do you have a favorite replacement for the week-end movie rental?


We go out to dinner now in place of the movie rental.  lol  It's been fun chatting with you!


Absolutely. And it's Friday! Great night to eat out. My pleasure talking w/you. Cheers!


I like listening to them!  Dunno too much about them though.. how about yourself?


I love listening to them too!  Did you know that Eddie Van Halen recorded the guitar solo for Michael Jackson's Beat It?


No, I did not know that!  That's pretty cool.  I'm told that Brian May, guitarist for Queen preferred to use coins to play his guitar instead of picks.  Dunno if that would make it easier or not...


That probably gives him a unique sound?  He also has a phd in astrophysics.  Incredible.


Wonder how he went from having that degree to deciding, "Hey, you know what?  I think I'll play guitar in a band!"  Wonder if that's covered in that movie about Queen they just made...


I'm not sure.  I haven't seen the movie yet.  I'm kind of thinking not because from what I know about the movie they don't cover everything.  The movie ends with their performance at Live Aid but the band still was active after that.  Maybe they did that to leave room for a sequel?


Maybe, I dont know.  It's on my list of "Films to See" though.  Personally, one of my favorite Queen albums is A Kind of Magic, it wasn't their most popular one though, but still... had a lot of good tunes!


Yes!  I agree!  I got into them kind of late.  A guitarist from Pink Floyd once turned a houseboat on the River Thames into a floating recording studio.  I bet that was fun to record on.


I wonder if recording on the water gave the music a unique sound.  Here's a nutty stat: Matthew Bellamy from Muse holds the record for most guitars smashed on a tour... dunno off-hand how many he smashed though, I'd have to google it..


He must have had a good endorsement deal!  lol  Switching gears....did you know the first American car available to the masses was the Model T built by Ford in 1908?


Yeah, I heard about that... I remember Ford famously said, "They can have any car color they want so long as it's black!"  LOL.


lol  The old cars a long time ago used to carry wooden trunks on the back of them and that's how the back of a car became to be known as a trunk.  Interesting.


I can top that... check it, it's LEGAL in South Africa to put FLAME THROWERS on your car to prevent carjacking.  Man, how bad must the problem be if the government's like, "You want a flame thrower?  Sure, go ahead!"  It's like something out of GTA!


Hahaha  That would be nuts.  Cadillac was named after the french explorer who was the founder of Detroit - Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.  I never knew that.


I didn't know that either... did you know pro race car driver Jann Mardenborough choose to become one after beating 90,000 people in the game Gran Turismo?  That's wild... beat all those people and think, "Hey, I should try this for real!"


That's a pretty neat story!  I wonder when McDonalds added drive-thrus for cars?


I think it was 1975 or so. They did it to accommodate soldiers because they couldn't get out of their cars while wearing fatigues.  Weird to think that's what started the whole drive thru thing.


That's pretty neat.  Thanks!  The first patent for a car was in 1886.  I didn't realize it was that early.


Jumping track a bit, are you a fan of wrestling?  I used to watch it a lot when I was younger, but haven't for awhile now.  But I am familiar with some of the stars and stuff...


I used to watch it back in the 80s before it exploded in popularity.  The Turkish national sport is oil wrestling where they douse themselves in olive oil and then wrestle!  lol  I have to get running.  It was nice chatting with you!


Yes I do. DId you know Van Halen once played it so much that is set the speakers on fire?


Yeah. DO you know who has smashed the most guitars in a tour?


Yes that would be the guitarist of Muse, Bellamy


Yeah. Do you know what Brian May is by profession?


He is a astrophysicist, he has a PhD in it


Yea and he does not use a pick to play the guitar


Yes he uses an english sixpence coin instead


I do. Do you know why invented the drive thru?


Yes , soldiers were not allowed out of their cars in fatigues at that time


Yeah. Do you know why the trunk of the car is called that?


Yes because old cars used to have wooden trunks


Yeah. Do you know how Cadillac got its name?


Yes after the founder of Detroit, de la Mothe Cadillac


Yeah it is quite fitting considering the brand


True. Did you know in south africa is legal to put flame throwers n your car?


Wow that is something. Nice chatting with you


You ever seen the Hotel Transylvania series?  It's not too bad, it's about a vampire that runs a hotel for monsters and his daughter falls in love with a human, and all kinds of wackiness ensues.  Adam Sandler does the voice of Dracula.


Good Afternoon!  I've seen all of them - my kids love the series and I thought they were pretty good too!  Great voice cast


Oh, you got kids?  They'd probably also like the Tales of Captain Underpants Netflix series. I heard it's pretty funny, but haven't seen it personally myself.


Yep - Netflix did a great job with Captain Underpants.  I was hesitant because of the title, and I was not aware of the books - it was awesome!


I don't currently have a Netflix subscription myself. Been meaning to get one when I get some extra money coming in (things are tight financially right now.)  Did you know that with youtube, they make up HALF of the internet traffic in North America?


That doesn't surprise me - we watch a lot of Netflix and my kids watch a ton of YouTube.    You can't borrow a friend's login for Netflix?


Loong story, but suffice to say most of my friends are in another state.   Pity too, cause I've heard a lot about some of their original series... like heard Stranger Things was a really good show.


Stranger things is cool, and so was the Making a Murder series.  Blockbuster really missed on on their bid to buy Netflix and then went totally out of business!


Yeah, I heard they ha a chance to buy it for $50 mill and now it's worth $2 billion.  I bet SOMEONE is kicking themselves hard over that decision!


It goes both ways, and I'm sure someone at Netflix is patting themselves on the back for declining that offer!


You know what's weird though, is supposedly they spend 20 times more on postage than bandwidth.  I didn't think that many people would still be getting DVDs/Bluerays from them.


Right!  we don't even have a DVD player in the house anymore - all smart TVs or AppleTVs to access the streaming services.  So much easier.


I guess there's still places out there where the Internet is slow.  That or they don't want to give up watching from the big screen TV in their "comfy" chairs.  Hehe!


DVDs are going the way of the cassette tape, the VHS, and the buggy whip!


Probably.  Did you know the guy who started Netflix did so after racking u a $40 late fee on a rental?  Found that to be rather interesting...


Amazing - Necessity is the mother of invention could never be truer.  No late fees!  Just send it back when you're done with it and look at the platform now!


Still can't wrap my head around how much bandwidth they take up.  33 percent in north America!  That's a lot!


More than some small countries!  I wonder how Amazon streaming factors into that figure - Prime has some pretty good movies/shows too


Yeah, that's the only down side to all this new media, there's so many services it's hard to know which one to pick.  You got Amazon, Netflix, Youtube, Disney even has one for crying out loud.


Too many choices for sure and I hope the products don't get watered down, but that's probably going to happen unfortunately


Speaking of Amazon, supposedly the very first customer spent $27.95 to have a building name after him.  I didn't even know they sold the naming of buildings!  (Course, that may have been a one shot deal...)  Would you spend money to get a building name after you?  Hehe.


With the clown we have in the white house, who puts his name on everything, I would be embarrassed to put my name on anything these days...


Me, I would pass... I don't really seek the spotlight in that sort of way anymore.  Although a statue of myself somewhere would be nice... LOL


Nice! A statue!  Awesome - hey it was great chatting with you today, very excellent!


hey I have been there, it was a long time ago, what about you?


Yeah, several times. A lot to see. The White House is pretty cool. Ever been?


ya you asked me already, I have it was in middle school, I'm shocked there are twin buildings of the white house though, I'm going to ireland next summer i'll have to check out the one that is there


I wonder if it's a big as the real one. THink there's a duplicate in France too.


yup you're right, have you ever been to nevada? apparently 86% of it is owned by the goverment


It's mostly desert and scrub anyway. Not prime real estate. I don't think the Norwegian government is going to donate anything to save Nevada wilderness like they did to save the Amazon.


ya I'm shocked they gave them 1 billion dollars thats a lot, I wonder how much the guy who tried to sell the eifeel tower sold it for lol


Yeah, must have been a lot. He did it twice. Wonder if the price went up the second time? Wonder what you wear to your "sell the Eiffel Tower" meeting?


haha ya good question, cna't believe he tried it twice! have you ever been to the white house btw?


Yeah, I think I even saw the solar panels out back that one of the Bushs had installed. Don't remember which one. Do you?


yes it was George w I believe, that was good of him to update to that technology, I sure wish they would update the storage technology though, they shouldn't be using floppies anymore! Its 2019!


I'm surprised the equipment to read those even exists any more. I did see the Christmas decorations the last time I was there. Ever been there during Christmas?


no I haven't, I heard that Teddy Roosevelt didn't allow xmas trees in the white house, very interesting considering he was an avid hunter


A different view of conservation back then I guess. You know I heard there was a store in Alabama that only sells things from unclaimed baggage. I wonder what you could find there?


ya I would feel bad buying from there, that is people's lost stuff! would you ever wear clothes made by Rip Curl?


Not since I found out they were made in North Korea. You?


no I wouldn't wear that, don't want to support north korea, would you wear clothes that were made by Apple though?


Nah, I think there's too much of a weird fan following with Apple. You?


no I wouldn't wear them, I'm an android guy, they actually had a clothing line in the 80's though, I bet those are worth money!


Hello. Did you know that over 80% of the land in Nevada is owned by the federal government?


I have read that somewhere once before.  Dont know how true it is.  Governments around the world do crazy things.  The CHINESE GOVERNMENT actually censored the word censorship!  how nuts is that?


That is funny!  Not for those being censored, but to us, you bet! The Norwegian Gov donated a billion bucks to help save the amazon rain forest.  Who do they pay?


Right!  The US could learn a lot from Monaco. They eliminated all income tax in 1869 because the money generated from their casinos was enough to sustain the government.  Las Vegas I am sure could do this.


That could work. Unless that dude from France, who posed as a member of government and sold the Eiffel Tower, if he comes to the states, he might sell Las Vegas...


Nah! The government would shut down like they have 17 times before.  dating back 37 years. Congress would still get paid though!


Always... Congress has never said NO to anything. Not like good old Teddy Roosevelt, the conservationist! He said NO to Christmas trees in the White house!  Finally, someone in Washington that said NO!


speaking of the white house did you know that the very first phone number there was "1".


That's wild.  And they are still using floppy disks too!  Go figure!


Floppy disk?!  I dont think they have used those since Jimmy Carter was in the White House in 1977.


Yeah, but maybe the fad is returning...like solar panels, which George W Bush put back on the White House?


Yeah... I remember that cause Reagan had them taken off the White House


You know, they have twin versions of the White Hose in Ireland and France?  I wonder if they are sporting solar panels too?


There is also a replica in Atlanta which was built as a private residence.


Cool. I'd live there. Is that when the house in Gone with the Wind burned down?


no idea.  but the term "white house" is often used as a metonym for the president and his advisors.


Hey, It would be great if all the people in the White House were required to dress in Pilgrim outfits--the black and white ones used for special occasions!


thats hilarious.  it would also be cool if all the replica white houses all had the same street address... 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.  of course the cities and states would be different, but how cool!


Yeah. And I have another idea on how we could close the national debt...We make the White House gift shop do the same thing a store in Alabama does--only sell items found in unclaimed baggage at the airport.  Free inventory!


that sounds like a good money making idea. i dont know how much it would take down the debt but it sounds like a plan.


Hi, how are you doing tonight? Ready for a chat?


Hey there yes I am, what do you think about our current government? Isn't it scary that they tried to destroy WikiLeaks


I figure they were worried about secrets getting out that would make them look bad. Not so much about security but humiliation.


Yeah that's possible. It's still scary and kind of funny that Wikileaks head to leak that information though. Also kind of weird is that the u.s. Government owns almost 90% of the land in Nevada


Nevada is an empty state. Can't really grow much there. A good place to do experiments on alien life forms, as long as Wikileaks doesn't leak it.


Haha that's a good point. I want them to leak some information on Area 51 though, that would actually be interesting. Did you know that someone in France impersonated a French government official and tried to sell the Eiffel Tower twice LOL


He must have been amazing at sales! Maybe that guy could help sell the land in Nevada. Or sell information on Wikileaks.


Haha that's a good point. If you can sell an Eiffel Tower, he can definitely sell some open desert land. He could even sell some Amazon rainforest potentially, cuz I know that Norway government donated like a billion dollars to that cause


Norway has cash from oil. I wish our gov't would help with the rainforests. That would be good. Norway has snow. They could ship snow to the rainforest.


Haha they need to make a movie about that. They also need to make a movie about Teddy Roosevelt. He was a staunch conservationist though. He didn't even allow a real Christmas trees in the white house because of that


He killed lots of animals, enough to fill a zoo. Different priorities about trees, I guess.


Haha you're right. I know he liked to hunt. What do you think about George W bush putting solar panels on top of the White House?


He did the right thing. The panels are a good marketing tool for solar energy. I think Carter was right to put them on.


Yeah I think Carter put them on then reagan took them off, and George W finally put them back on haha. What about the White House using floppy drives? Do you think that's outdated


That might be for security purposes. I don't know why they would use an outdated technology otherwise.


No I agree. They should definitely upgrade to USB drives. Would you ever visit a twin building of the White House. They have one in France and there's another one in Ireland apparently


I'm not surprised. I bet those countries have a respect for the democratic institutions of the US.


Yeah that is probably true. Do you ever wear clothes by the way? I'm wearing some right now haha. Also funny that apple had a clothing line back in the 80s


I sometimes wear clothes when I have to go outside and be with other people. Clothes are functional. Apple clothes were probably dorky.


Yeah I bet. But they also are probably worth money now haha. Would you ever buy stuff that was taken from unclaimed baggage? Apparently they have a store in Alabama that sells that


I would check it out first. Maybe there are some good bargains. Cabana clothes, Hawaiian shirts.


Yeah you know there's something good in there haha. And hopefully it's cheap. Would you ever wear a pilgrim outfit by the way? Apparently the black outfits that you normally see were only worn for special occasions


Hello there, I do follow, but not super closely, how about you?


Yes, same here, only watched the recap of the recent State of Union address. As advanced as technology is these days, the White House still uses floppy disks for storing files! Possible security breach perhaps?


That is so hilarious, I don't even think you can buy those at a regular store anymore!


Yeah, Amazon probably doesn't even carry them anymore! There was one president who got with times and that's George W. Bush who had solar panels installed on the back of the white house.


I had read that before, I also heard there were other presidents who took them down, and then put them back up.


That I don't know, but that is why they say Bush put them 'back' on.


Oh ok! I see. Well seeing that the secret service took four days to realize that bullets had struck the white house, I think they need to reevaluate their team and security processes.


That is just too crazy, I wouldn't feel very safe if I was the president and it took them that long.


Yeah, maybe they need to copy what they do in Ireland and France and build twin buildings for safety. I wonder if that is better use of funds than building a wall?


You might be right, I am so sick of all the talk about the wall and all the fuss, seems like it is so pointless, if criminals want to enter or bring what they can, they will always find a way.


I couldn't agree more with you on that. Like in France, a man impersonated to be a government official and managed to sell the Eiffel tower, not once, but TWICE! If someone is going to do something, I think nothing's going to stop them.


Exactly!  Tells you everything you need to know about criminals doing what they will to get what they want, sometimes they get caught, but they will always try.


Yeah totally! Are you familiar with the Geneva Conventions? I am not too familiar and was wondering why the US passed legislation that protects government employees from being prosecuted for violating the Geneva Conventions.


I am not too familiar no, but I also wonder that as well.  Sounds a bit fishy to me to be honest.


Yeah, it seems rather risky giving that kind of 'immunity' t anyone!


Yeah and to be an official, and to be granted immunity seems way too fishy.  They should be held to a higher standard if they are officials.


Maybe there's records of the potential impact of that on Wikileaks since they were so brazen to publish secretive documents related to the government's plans to destroy them. How do you feel about Wikileaks?


I am not too sure how I feel, but it does show how easily those documents can get out, so I think it is good that they brought it to the attention of the government.


Yeah, I learned a lot through the Snowden movie, wasn't too familiar with the story or news articles seemed biased until I saw that movie, but still have some degree of doubt and does raise a difficult question.


I still have to watch that one myself, but anyways, it was nice talking with you today, I hope you have a good day.


So, been reading about Netflix, man wish I had that service again, had it YEARs ago when it was DVDs..


Well they have totally changed the way we watch movies and the good thing is everyone is on it except you :)


Well, it's just money is kind of tight right now, even at just $8 a month.  I've heard they got a lot of good original series though...


ok, I wish one can share subscription then it would be easy. Do you know that one can access netflix from everywhere except china?


Yeah, China's weird that way.. the government isn't big on certain types of movies and series and stuff. I have a theory on that...


i am of the opinion that most people on netflix are youth between the ages of 16-26..This is because it accounts for a whole 33 percent of internet usage in north america can you believe that?


Yeah, that makes sense to me, young people like to watch a lot of television (or should I say shows).


I am happy that it's an American company, kudos to Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph


Yeah, entrepreneurship is always a good thing!  Do you have any Netflix series you like to watch?  I'm interested in Stranger Things.  Heard it was really good...


I watch my all time favorite Friends on Netflix, I love Jennifer Aniston. She is my dream date


Yes, she is very attractive! Have you seen any good movies lately?


No I have not, what do you think about Selena Gomez I think she is doing well to have picked up her life after Justin Bibier's  break up


I admit, I'm not exactly a fan of her music, but I'm happy to hear she's doing well.  She seems like a nice young lady.


Do you know demi lovato? seems Selena and her have been in  show business since childhood. They both appeared on Barney and friends back in the days


Not too much, I know she was rushed to the hospital not too long ago due to a suspected overdose.  Hope she's doing okay..


I learnt she is going star in a movie called spring breakers


Yeah, I saw part of that, it's a pretty trippy film, she plays a girl who become a bank robber over Spring Break


Nice , I wonder what we would have done without the internet, Life would have been definitely boring. What do you think?


Oh, man, I can't imagine life without the internet.. even though I spent first 18 or so years or my life without it... LOL


Thanks to the government I learnt it was their research that has eventually turned into something wonderful. I love my country


Although sometimes I do think, "All this knowledge available on the internet and I'm using to watch cat videos..."  LOL


just imagine how difficult school would have been without internet


Yeah, you'd have to go to the library for everything and do lots of research.


I do in fact use Netflix. Do you happen to know who the founders of Netflix were?


it was a guy who paid a huge late fee for a movie then decided he hated late fees


And this the reason why he started Netflix in the first place?


I believe so. he was frustrated. he wanted to make it so that people could rent movies without worrying about late fees. so he started Netflix. and the rest is history.


Reed something. i forget. he is probably a very rich man now.


I do agree he is very rich and his name from what I heard is Reed Hastings. Do you know where is Netflix headquartered?


It is in California, in Silicon Valley. Los Gatos? I think?


You're correct. Do you know when Netflix was founded?


Late 90s. like 1997. The company is just over 20 years old.


Wow. That is amazing. Did Netflix compete with Blockbuster at some point?


Blockbuster had a chance to work with netflix. netflix offered to handled the streaming part of the business. BB said no. Oops.


Blockbuster made a major mistake not buying them for $50 million when they had the chance to do so.


Yeah, now BB is no more. One store in Oregon. A relic of a mighty empire.


I guess Netflix put them out of business.


yeah, so did the internet. nobody wanted to go to the store, and why wait for a movie in the mail if you can get it online? BB let the world pass it by.


Now Netflix is worth $2 billion. That is something


I wish i had bought stock back in the day. it was cheap! oh well. Anyway, great chat!


Yes it was great chatting with you as well!!!


Hi!  How much do you know about our wonderful Planet?


I know that its the 3rd planet from the Sun and the only planet to harbor life.


It has harbored much life in its 4.5 billion years.


Wow!!! That is very interesting indeed and that was a very long time ago. I also know that the Earth revolves around the Sun in 365.26 days which is better know as an Earth year.


It is in the Sun's Goldilocks zone, which is the part where temperatures and conditions are right for life.


I agree. You probably know this but the majority of Earth's polar regions are covered with ice.


I am worried about them melting.... you?


Me too. This is a scary time for our planet. Just recently I heard in the news there was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Venezuela .


Wow.  That is scary.  It is really something that you cant prepare for.  I really hope people fared well, or as well as can be.


I'm happy to report that the quake caused little damage because it was 76 miles beneath the Earth's surface.


Good, still scary, even that that sort of thing can happen.  I wonder if that is a teltale sign for one to come?  I live in Florida, so no earthquakes here.


I'm glad that there no earthquakes in Florida. I was wondering what do you find fascinating about our planet Earth?


It is really the prospect of us not being alone in the universe.  I guess that is why they appointed an ambassador in the UN to any outside life that contacts us.


I think its a good idea. Did you know that the Earth is about 4 times as dense as the Sun?


That is hard to wrap my head around, but I guess because the sun is gas it is possible.


Yes, you're correct. I agree with you. I'm actually very grateful that God created Jupiter because it saves the Earth from many asteroids heading towards it.


Very true.  we could be wiped out again like the dinosaurs were otherwise.


Correct. I believe everything happens for a reason and that God has protected us many times over here on Earth in more ways that we don't even realize.


Do you believe there are other planets in our universe with life?


I think there is a strong possibility of this but we haven't found a planet that sustains life yet and our planet's surface is covered 71% with water.


Water is essential to life, so that is something I think they search for when they look for life outside of our planet.


You're correct. Water is a must to sustain any kind of life in any planet.


I was listening to something that said Venus could possible have sustained life at one point, but the atmosphere is currently too thick


Yes you're right, Venus's surface is way too thick to support life.


It has been great chatting, but I must get going.  ET is calling.  LOL  Have a great day!


It was great chatting with you as well. You have a nice day!!!


Hello! Did you know Myspace turned down an offer to buy facebook for just 75 million in early 2005.


Hello!  Wow did they miss the boat on that.  Bet whoever made the decision regrets it!


I'm sure! I think facebook is worth over 600 billion now.


Holy smokes!  Burger King had a promotion where if you unfriend 10 people on Facebook you got a free whopper.  Wonder how many people took them up on it?


Wow! That's a strange promotion. I would have probably taken them up on that, I need to clean out my facebook friends!


I wish I knew about it.  I would have done the same thing.  lol  Facebooks "like" button is illegal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.  Wonder why?


That is pretty weird. I wonder why too. Facebook is primarily blue because Mark Zuckerburg suffers from red-green colorblindness. I never really noticed how blue it was!


I never noticed either.  Do you like dancing at all?


I don't really dance, but I like watching youtube videos of dancing sometimes!


I can't dance either.  I try though at weddings etc. lol  Did you know that Bruce Lee was a great dancer and won the Hong Kong cha-cha championship in 1958?


I did not know that! Tupac danced ballet in high school and played the part of the mouse in the Nutcracker!


Who would have thought that?  Interesting.  Michael Jackson has a patent for a device that helped him get that extreme lean he had in some of his dance moves.


That's very interesting. He was a very good dancer! Professional ballet dancers can go through 4 pairs of shoes in a week! I'm sure that can get very costly!


I bet.  I wonder if they have to pay for them or the ballets they work for have to pay?  Do you wear alot of hats or know any history about them?


I usually wear hats when its cold, but not much outside of that. Tipping of ones hat originates from knights raising their face visors to show friendliness!


Interesting!  The most popular hat in the old west was the bowler hat and not the cowboy hat.


I wouldn't have guessed that! In 1908 a law passed to limit the length of hat pins in case of them being used as weapons by suffragettes.


I never would have thought about them as being used as a weapon.  Up until 1998 British politicians had to wear a top hat if making a point of order in the house of commons.


Very interesting! The party hat originated from the dunce cap as it was worn at parties to encourage foolish behavior.


That's funny!  In the past hats were an indicator of social status.  Kind of odd.


That's pretty interesting! It was great talking to you! Have a nice day!


Hello how are you?  can you believe Myspace turned down an offer to buy facebook for $75 million in early 2005


Hi I am good and wow thats crazy.I cant believe its been around since 2004.


I know right!Facebook's "like" button is illegal in the german state of schleswig-holstein. Guess they are not a fan of the "thumbs up" lol


I always wanted a thumbs down button more lol


Me too!  But I guess thats just negative of me.  No one wants people to dislike their content lol


A third of all divorce filings of 2011 in the u.s. contained the word 'facebook'. LOL


hahaha wow I dont have that fact,  we must have different ones.  Thats so interesting!  Burger king had a promotion where


Yeah right!  Facebook is primarily blue because mark zuckerburg suffers from red-green colorblindness


There are more people on facebook than there were people in the world 200 years ago.


Interested in dance at all?Bruce lee was also a great dancer and he won the hong kong cha-cha championship in 1958.


LOL Yea check this out There was an episode of mr. rogers where he learned to breakdance. LOL


omg I have to see that!!  Tupac danced ballet in high school and ended up portraying the mouse king in a production of the nutcracker.


Thats too funny. The first moonwalk ever recorded was performed by tap dancer bill bailey in 1955!


Michael jackson has a patent. on a device used to achieve the extreme lean in some of his dance moves


Are you a user of social media, like Facebook?


Hi, how are you? I don't use social media much. Do you?


Not at all.  Having a security clearance, its just one more thing to get hung up on when they do background checks.  Facebook in its early days was always changing.  Even when you set your permissions to private, site change would often reset your permission to public.


Oy, that's rough. Myspace turned down an offer to buy Facebook for $75 million. I wonder whether there would be the same problems with privacy if Myspace were in charge.


Myspace still exists, but nobody is really on it.  Google just suspended Google+, its alternative to Facebook, because of lack of users.  Myspace really missed out on the golden goose considering the IPO valued the company at 104 billion.


They can't make money if nobody shows up. Facebook makes  its revenue from advertisements onscreen. Gotta have the eyeballs to get the revenue.


The users may be free, but their data is used to drive advertising.  As a person, I do not want my life to be public for the whole world to see.  But FB connectivity can really be beneficial in certain situations.  For example, Iceland is rewriting its constitution via FB.


I think Iceland might find some headaches ensue from that approach. Do you like to dance? I’m not really much of dancer.


I go to the fais-do-do (Cajun dance party) at Vermilionville every so often.  I am not good at it, but it is good to socialize and get together with other Cajun French speakers in south Louisiana.  I do like to go to an occasional opera or ballet when I am in a big city such as New York or Chicago.


You're a regular Bruce Lee! He won the Hong Kong cha-cha championship in 1958.


Not quite.  I joke that my dance partner needs steel-toed shoes.  There are persons, like Tupac, who you would have never thought would be trained in the classical art of ballet.


The guy really was a talented performer. Professional ballet dancers can go through 4 pairs of shoes a week. I wonder how many Tupac went through.


I'm not sure, may he RIP.  I remember he always had headgear, either a bandana or a baseball cap on backwards and askew.  Hats (and caps) seem to be the trademark with many artists.


Yeah, he liked his top wear. The conical party hat was derived from dunce caps.   worn at parties to encourage foolish behavior.


Hats / caps and their usage have evolved over time.  Police use to have peaked caps or brimmed hats.  It seems most today in our police and sheriff departments where department issue baseball caps.  Only the Louisiana State Troopers still where the brimmed hats.  What are the customs in your area?


I see the pretty standard police hat, like from movies. Not Smokey the Bear cover like for the sheriff or baseball caps like the FBI. The most popular hat in the old west was the bowler, not the cowboy hat. I wonder how Texas Rangers would look in bowlers.


Somehow that fact seemed to miss the history books.  I grew up in a rural area down here and after a while in Chicago, I moved back.  Moving to Chicago, it was the first time I experienced religious headgear such as that worn by Jews and Sikhs.


I know that police in Canada are allowed to wear turbans because it's part of their religion.


It was also allowed in the U.S. army a couple of years ago for Sikhs.  But, I guess that if I am in a firefight, I would prefer the protection the ballistic helmet.  Did you happen to read a recent news article about a Washington D.C. girl gunned down shortly after turning 16?


It seems that its related to the spate of gun violence common in inner city neighborhoods.  Her father was gunned down at age 17, so she never really knew him.  Her grandmother went of Facebook pleading for it to stop.


I guess nowadays FB is the best place to make such pleas. People pay attention to personal news that doesn't get picked up by the media.


Apparently this family lost multiple members to gun violence.  Even though DC has some of the toughest gun restrictions, the violence has continued for decades.  What do you think needs to change to reduce the amount of gun violence?


In Canada, gun ownership is a privilege. There are many checks before you can get a gun. You can lose the privilege. It's a lot like driving. I don't know what the US can do. Have you seen Fahrenheit 11-9?


I am not really into Michael Moore films.  I am sure if making a privilege would work.  Many of those committing gun violence are convicted felons who have already lost their 2nd amendment rights.  Yet, they still (illegally) obtain and use guns to commit crime and intimidate those living in inner cities.


Yeah, don't know what do in the US. Too much money in the industry, too many politicians lobbied into submission. I worry more about school shootings. That seems like it's just going to get worse.


True.  Too many think life is like the violent video games they are addicted to.  Guns by themselves are harmless - its when someone pulls the trigger.  Somehow we need to restore a sense of humanity and personal responsibility.  People need to feel for their fellow man and accept responsibility for their actions.


I wish I had an answer. Anyway, I enjoyed chatting.


Is so sad how that girl died, she was barely 16.


It is terrible on how our future society is, violence and killing.


I agree, there is a lot of violence and its a vicious circle as her dad also got killed when he was 17.


It is crazy how half of the victims are teens.


It is crazy, it;s sad because they have all their lives in front of them. You know the police detained a man but didn't file charges.


Its idiotic! People not being charged for crime that should be punished for a lifetime!


I agree, Police should do a better job as the death of Taiyana Aaliyah Thompson is not the only one, there are 16 more in the district


With this being said, i think teens shouldn't go on social media, facebook claims you can be 13 years old or older to join. That is ridiculous!


It is ridiculous, you can always lie and say you have a different age. Did you hear about the Burger King promotion?


Facebook has a whole bunch of different types of people, its the future of our society. I did not hear about the burger king promotion?


Ok so the promotion consisted on unfriending 10 friends and you would get a free whopper because of it.


That is very interesting! I do not use Facebook as much anymore, i would get a bunch of free whoppers!


I don't think the promotion is still valid, I've always wondered why Facebook chose the color blue.


Facebook has a lot of interesting facts but no one ever knows why it was made like that.


I agree Facebook has a lot of interesting facts, for instance, there's a town in Germany where it's illegal to push the like button


That's crazy! Facebook also uses your personal likes to bring out advertisements that you may want to choose!


That seems a bit invasive but I guess all those sites dont respect privacy.


It does not, which brings me to our current society. People use social media to track down their prey witch causes killing.


Yeah social media has a lot of negative aspects as well, there are many predators lurking in the web.


I wouldn't allow my child to use it anytime soon. Its dangerous and unsafe.


I agree with you, although Iceland wouldn't, they are basically rewriting their constitution with Facebook's help.


Very I find the ancient athenians idea of elections intriguing. Seems like they were on to something.


Yes. We might be better off if that were the case. Too many people desperate to hold office and most of them plan to make a lifetime career out of it.


It is sad to me that we can't even get past 63% for voter turnout.


True. I think that the election procedures should be totally reworked. Why not vote on line? Of course so many people have no idea what they are actually voting on.


Yes! We need more publicity to sites that highlight the issues in a neutral way. The fact that the taller candidate has won 75% of the time tells me that people no longer vote the issues they vote their feelings.


LOL! It's become a modeling show where you pick the most picturesque.


Yep. Or a game of monopoly where whoever has the most cash wins the game.


That is exactly what it has become. I think term limits should be applied and basic intelligence tests given for all candidates.


LOL we can only hope that something changes because the state of our country is sad from both sides of the aisle. We have fallen far from what our forefathers dreamed for this country.


Yes. So much hatred is displyed in political ads. Most have no truth in them at all or at a minimum just a slice. Began with Nixon and McGovern where the negatives ads helped Nixon win in a landslide.


It isn't like it is our government is the only one with issues though. It is the human condition I think. I love the little anecdote about the guy selling the eiffel tower.


Yeah. That made me laugh. Maybe you are right and there should be a national lottery for elections that bars all lawyers from running.


That would be amazing. I think we really people from all walks of life. I think I remember reading something once about a king in norway that was elected while he was a simple farmer. And look at the amazing things the norweigans are doing!


True, we seem to have gotten off the path that our founders envisioned.


Individually people can be counted on to deny their selfish nature but as a group people succumb to mob mentality that brings out the worse in all.


Insightful. I agree as Descartes ( I think) said "Absolute power corrupts absolutely".


Love that quote. Another fave in our house is Ben Franklins "Whoever would give up a little freedom for security deserves neither and will lose both" Goverment has a place and it is stepping outside the bounds of what it should in a big way.


I agree. Today our politicians operate on fear and misdirection and none of them seem to remember why the were elected in the first place..


I'm floored by the fact our government actually came up with a plan to destroy wikileaks


Wikileaks posed a eminent threat to our government. It allowed facts to be exposed that they wanted hidden from everyone. I don't care much for their founder however.


Yeah but the function of wikileaks is a fantastic one especially in a world of increasingly global goverment systems


And hidden agendas within the government. I wonder if the general public will ever really know what takes place behind closed doors.


Hey there do you ever use Facebook? I used to use it a lot but not really anymore


I used to a lot more but I still do! I liked it when they did promotions, like Burger King used to give you a free whopper for unfriending 10 people.


I remember that. I wish I could do that right now actually because I'm hungry LOL, what do you think about my space? Did you ever use that site?


I didn't! It's hard to remember they might have been bigger than Facebook at one point. I think they should have bought Facebook when they had the chance.


I agree with you! They could have bought them for 75 million dollars, which is not really a lot of money compared to what they are worth now, which is 104 billion LOL


Wow that's definitely crazy. I wonder if subtle details could be the reason they are so successful. The blue color is because Mark Zuckerburg is mildly colorblind, maybe people enjoy the color more in general though


I think that that is it as well. Blue is a soothing color, and since he was colorblind it only makes sense to make things blue and not red / green


Definitely I'm sure that's a factor. On another hand, are you a fan of dance?


Yes I've been known to dance from time to time haha. What about you? I can't say I'm very good though


Oh me neither haha. Which is strange considering we're groomed from day one. Even babies spontaneously dance when they hear music.


I've never seen that in real life! I need to test that theory outon  my friends newborn LOL, did you know that Bruce Lee won a dancing competition in 1958?


That's interesting! Never once thought of him as a dancer. Then again Tupac doesn't seem like a dancer but he performed in the Nutcracker in his high school!


I agree with you! I wish I could see that footage because I guarantee that it's very interesting haha. Did you ever watch Michael Jackson on stage?


I did! He's magical, but did you knkow he uses a device to do his famous extreme lean? Still impressive but it takes away from the mystery.


Yep he has a patent on that device too. Which is awesome because he should be the only one to use it LOL he does it the best of course


Oh absolutely. Someone should get a patent on indestructible pointe shoes. As it is, ballet dancers go through several pairs a week, it seems like a waste!


That does seem like a waste! But I believe it though because I did date a ballerina for a little bit, her feet were always really jacked up LOL. Do you ever wear hats by the way?


Ahahah, that's interesting. I do sometimes, I'm glad we live in a time where there's more options than chef hats and turbans. Do you?


LOL I M too. They have hats for everything. They even have hats for religious functions like you said. And some hats are worn for ceremonial purposes, like the Mortar Board which is the hat that University students wear when they graduate.


Oh wow I never knew that. On the other hand, the cone shaped hats worn at parties are done to encourage foolish behavior. Just like they used to have dunce caps!


Haha I've never had to wear a dunce cap but I have seen people wear them LOL I do like knowing that tipping hats originated from nights. They would use their face visors and tip those in order to show that they were friendly


Hey how are you, did you watch 13 Reasons Why by chance?


I did, I loved that series kind of dark but great. Did you watch 13 Reasons Why


I did, I couldn't finish the first season, it seemed to almost glorify suicide and what not. I'm not sure if it was the best message for people. Netflix has some great shows though.


Its really dark, not a show for everyone but it gets interesting later on and then kind of addictive and really sad.


For sure, that makes sense. Netflix and Youtube make up half of the peak of internet traffic, I could see a lot of people getting addicted to it.


Thats a lot, can you believe Netflix has more than 137 million subscribers already?


Oh wow, that's pretty crazy. i guess they make up 33% of all the internet bandwith in North America at night.


I know right, did you know that in the year 2000 Netflix proposed a deal to Blockbuster and they just laughed at them? well Netflix sure showed them


Netflix showed them for sure ha, the internet definitely helped them, I can't believe Blockbuster didn't see the writing on the wall.


Yeah the company has grown a lot over the years. There is a boring movie in Netflix about fireplaces.


I've never see that, they spend 20x more on postage than internet, that's pretty crazy to me.


That is crazy I agree so interesting how the internet makes all of this possible.


For sure, there's a measurable addiction of people clicking links, people love their instant gratification, me as well.


I guess the internet can be really addictive. Humans are the minority in the internet actually we are outnumbered by software problems.


Software problems? What do you mean by that?


I meant programs, not problems, sorry. There is more software than humans.


Lol I could see that, it's crazy to think what humans do and then what programs do. It really blows my mind, you ever think you're living in a program right now?


Haven't really thought about that this might all be a simulation interesting theory.


It kind of freaks me out the more you think about it to be honest. It's pretty crazy.


It is crazy, well I'm real if that serves as comfort lol, do you know how the act of looking oneself on the internet is called?


Are you real? That's what a bot would say though right?


I guess thats possible I could be a bot as well. anyways this bot is tired and its kind of late so it was gret chatting with you.


Me too, haha, great chatting with you too. Take care and have a good night!


i used to watch it. it was great. do you watch it?


I still watch it, a international movie from time to time, but I did not watch 13 reasons why.


13 Reasons Why is a series about the suicide of a teen girl. It was very popular.


Whoa. that sounds quite serious. i bet it was popular but maybe a bit difficult for some viewers.


They had add bunch of warnings before the show, they added a guide for the parent to help them to talk about the subject with their kids. And you what do you have watched on Netflix ?


i saw stranger things a while ago. that was fun. i watched it at a friends house. Oh, and House of cards.


Netflix it really popular, it account for 33% of all content seen on internet in the US in the evening.


I bet! people love video. they love entertainment on demand. plus netflix makes a lot of original content.


They really found their place since since they went into streaming, did you use Netflix at the time they sent DVD via mail ?


I had a friend who did. no late fees. good system. beat the hell out of blockbuster.


Blockbuster is not more, they should have accepted the offer to buy Netflix at 50 million.


they really should have. no bb is no more. just a memory of foolish hubris.


They should had smaller late fees, that is what inspired the founders of Netflix.


yes, that is true. i bet they made a lot of money off late fees. it became punitive.


It became hubris like you said. Internet came and somebody had an idea. do you think you are addicted to internet ?


I figure that at this point, i am. i have no choice. i need to use the thing all day and now i cant quit LOL


But each time you click something, something happens, it can be addictive for the brain.


Yes, if it releases a chemical for pleasure, it can become addictive. Anyway, great chat!


Does the fluctuations in the stock market over the past couple of months give you heart attacks?


It doesn't make me feel great. I will tell you that. I heard that the sell-off probably isn't over yet...could get worse!


There's a bunch of "risky" stocks like Netflix which was up over 40 percent in January alone but then when it drops, it's like freefalling!


Do you use netflix. I love it. I can't imagine my life without it. Did you know that netflix and youtube together make up half of peak internet traffic in north america?


Yes, I love the service too! I'm a contributor to that statistic, I can even watch Netflix on the TV and youtube on my computer at the same time! Any shows you like to watch?


ozarks is one of my favs. Can you believe that blockbuster declined several offers to buy netflix for $50 million. it is now worth $2 billion. Bad move blockbuster!


Oh yeah, I have that on my watch next playlist, is it a thriller? Yeah, I would hate myself for losing out on such a great deal like that but then again, it was because of the late fees that the Netflix founder incurred that led him to start Netflix.


I don't blame him. I hated late fees. Wasn't because he had $40 late fee for apollo 13! Too funny.


Yes, I've also incurred some exorbitant amount of late fees with them back in the day, it sucked so bad. Good thing there's no such thing as late fees for Netflix!


Netflix spends 20 times more on postage than bandwidth. I wonder what they are mailing?


Yeah, perhaps warning letters for users to stop sharing account passwords? Actually, I think that was when they were still mailing out DVDs which comprised a large part of their business, don't think they're involved in that anymore.


True...i forgot about that! Do you shop at amazon at all? I do...probably too much!


oh my! I visit the site at least twice a day if not more! Have you bought anything from their in-house brand called AmazonBasics?


No I haven't. I need to try it out. Poor amazon workers. They walk between 7-15 miles each day as part of their shift.


For some reason it says "low-end" products, but I disagree, I think a lot of the Amazon branded items are pretty durable and at a great price point.


I definitely need to try them then. I didn't even realize that amazon owned imdb since 1998.


Wow! No wonder Amazon Prime video has the IMDB ratings integrated in their site, I wish Netflix did the same thing, I rely on those ratings a lot. Do you?


I do. It is always good to take a look before you waste time watching something that is no good. I also like to look at the ratings before I get books for my kindle.


Yeah, I totally agree! Is there a specific place you like to read reviews on books?


Usually just on the amazon website. They are pretty detailed and give a good idea of if the book will be a good read or not. Did you know that the US postal service has a contract with amazon to deliver packages on sunday?


Oh ok, I thought there was a site like IMDB which provides a pretty accurate rating but for books, I like to use the Amazon reviews as well. I don't think my local post office honors that contract since I have never received packages on Sunday.


Cant say that I am, but I certainly respect his talent.


True.    He has an ego, and believes he should win the MVP again.


I dont think he is that good, there are plenty of other talented players in the league.


Yes.    Harden, Westbrook and Robertson all deserved their awards.


I think someone who wold say that they are no one without their team is far more deserving of the award.


What is your favorite team in the NBA?    Do you have one?


Since I was a kid I liked the bulls because of MJ


Did you know Air Jordan's were once banned by the NBA!


Crazy to think that, but yeah.  Nike kept paying the fine, and Jordan Kept wearing them.


I wonder if MJ ever shot free-throws granny style?


Nah, hes too good, but Shaq should have!


True.    I find it a little amazing Allen Iverson's shoe deal was longer than Shaq's!


I know!  Id take that $32 Mil when I turn 55 Thank you!


Despite that, Judge Judy still makes more money, more consistently.


I heard it is $123,000 per episode.  I need to get in to TV judging.  I could be making more in one day than I do over 3 years!


Despte all that money, you only get one vote though.


Very true, and it counts just as much no matter how much you make


It might count a little bit more if it comes from the middle of a forest full of lions.


True!     I heard that the UK limited some men from voting all the way to 1918.


Who knows!    Even in the US, a significant percentage of the black male population in Alabama has permenantly lost the right to vote.


I am guessing that is because of felonies?  I cant think of any other reason.


Perhaps.      That is a real shame.    Who wouldn't want to be allowed to do something like Austin Texas, and rename the garbage dump after Fred Durst.


I have a few names Id like to name ours, but I digress...


Too true.      I think I'm going to go try and find details on the new Space Jam movie!


Yes I do. Yes I love LeBron James. He is averaging 27.4 points a game.


Yeah. I wonder if this is about last season or the current season. Harden won last year and he is likely to win this year too!


You're right, I can do the math... this is about last season. Thanks!


Can you imagine being that great at anything, let alone basketball? I can barely manage to get myself dressed in the morning.


Lol same here. Especially straight out of highschool. Did you know Kevin love broke his hand and missed 21 games.


I did know that. He seems to get hurt all the time. He was out for a period of time this year too. Although I would probably found a way to strain a hammy too if I played on CLE.


Did you know LeBron has 2 gold Olympic medals?


No. I think Carmelo Anthony has the most olympic golds... Seems like a weird person to have all that gold..


Yes it does. Did you see the original space Jam movie. LeBron has signed a new deal to play in the sequel.


I saw the original and am not to excited to see this one. I would think he would want to get away from the Jordan comparisons so doing Space Jam is a little weird of a choice to me. Are you interested in seeing it?


I only want to see it for the characters not him. LeBron rejected an $80 million dollar from Reebok when was 18


Seemed like a good investment in himself. He made more than that with Nike, didn't he?


Yes a year later he got a $90 million offer so guess he was smart to wait.