This thread is for stupid questions that don't deserve their own individual threads

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How likely is it that a place of business, in particular a Honda service center, would take a credit card payment over the phone? Like if I were to bring it in and somebody else would pay for it without being there? I kinda need to make a decision based on that today, but the place I might take it into is closed on sundays obviously.
 
demon said:
How likely is it that a place of business, in particular a Honda service center, would take a credit card payment over the phone? Like if I were to bring it in and somebody else would pay for it without being there? I kinda need to make a decision based on that today, but the place I might take it into is closed on sundays obviously.

Shouldn't be a problem. As long as the card is valid, they shouldn't care.
 
So I've been thinking about time travel.
Say if I were to build a time machine to go back one week to alter an event, if I went back and changed that event wouldn't I change the past and ultimately eliminate the need to build a time machine in the present. If the event was altered and I didn't need to change it then I wouldn't need to build a time machine and none of it would have ever happened.
Can someone explain this to me? Thanks.
 
Snuggler said:
So I've been thinking about time travel.
Say if I were to build a time machine to go back one week to alter an event, if I went back and changed that event wouldn't I change the past and ultimately eliminate the need to build a time machine in the present. If the event was altered and I didn't need to change it then I wouldn't need to build a time machine and none of it would have ever happened.
Can someone explain this to me? Thanks.

Basic problem with time travel. May a "time machine" actually just takes you to one of the infinite dimensions in which you didn't make said decision?
 
WanderingWind said:
Shouldn't be a problem. As long as the card is valid, they shouldn't care.
I doubt that. I work at a fast food place and the other day this lady had forgotten her wallet so she called her husband to get him to tell her the credit card number and then she asked if she could pay that way and I almost told her it would be okay until an assistant manager said we can't because the card could be stolen, so I doubt a much bigger transaction like a car repair would be any different.
 
Snuggler said:
So I've been thinking about time travel.
Say if I were to build a time machine to go back one week to alter an event, if I went back and changed that event wouldn't I change the past and ultimately eliminate the need to build a time machine in the present. If the event was altered and I didn't need to change it then I wouldn't need to build a time machine and none of it would have ever happened.
Can someone explain this to me? Thanks.
Well seeing as how we've never been visited from ourselves or others from the future, I've concluded we never time travel, or if you can its simply observing and not interacting.

Changing an event would theoritically change the events after it, which is definitely a mind fuck.
 
Asked this in the "baggage allowance/fatties thread" but no one answered.

How do they go about deciding if your too fat for one seat on a plane? They don't really weigh or take your circumference do they?
 
The Skater said:
I doubt that. I work at a fast food place and the other day this lady had forgotten her wallet so she called her husband to get him to tell her the credit card number and then she asked if she could pay that way and I almost told her it would be okay until an assistant manager said we can't because the card could be stolen, so I doubt a much bigger transaction like a car repair would be any different.

Well, no offense, but an assistant manager at a fast food place isn't somebody I'd take advice from. In anything.

I do know you can order pizzas over the phone with a credit card. I know you can order things from online over the phone by just using a credit card. I've done both of those things recently...and the camera I bought over the phone cost $1700.
 
Rahnter said:
Asked this in the "baggage allowance/fatties thread" but no one answered.

How do they go about deciding if your too fat for one seat on a plane? They don't really weigh or take your circumference do they?

Probably depends on the airline, but being able to sit comfortably with both armrests down is a factor. Dunno of any other ways.

Source: Kevin "TFTF" Smith.
 
So I have a SeaGate 120 gig external USB hard drive, I use it to store all of my games and stuff because my computers hard drive is too small to store that much stuff. And everything worked fine yesterday but today I tried to get on steam to play some TF2 and the drive was unplugged "Oh, I'll just plug it back in" so I do and you know how whenever you insert a USB stick it runs "Autoplay" and scans for the files on the device? Well normall it takes about 4 seconds and bam im in. But now its going at an extremley abnormally slow pace. I can still get to my files, well at least some of them. It detects about the first two or threee folders worth of files (after an hour of scanning I might add) and then the operation times out. I thought it might be infected with a virus or something, but a virus scanner can only scan stuff that is "there" and if the operation times out after only a few folders then a virus scan wont work.

So GAF is there a way I can get my hard drive working again, or at least a way to get my savegames and stuff off?

And yes my warranty is up
 
as an internet veteran I realized recently that we are all on here searching for the same thing. A novel vector to our stale thoughts, I guess. Two words.

What is it?
 
kai3345 said:
So GAF is there a way I can get my hard drive working again, or at least a way to get my savegames and stuff off?

And yes my warranty is up
Have you tried plugging your external HD to another computer to see if it detects it/reads it properly? I'm afraid that your external hard drive may be dying on you. As for recovering data from it, I'm sure there are some programs that can help you with that. Maybe check out data recovery tools?
 
Why do some developers make a few achievements "secret" in games? Normally to get an achievement/trophy you have to know what you're doing and the list is always on the internet anyway, I don't see the point in hiding the requirements.

(edit: lol, wrong thread I guess but I can't seem to find the gaming equivalent of this.)
 
Fuu said:
Why do some developers make a few achievements "secret" in games? Normally to get an achievement/trophy you have to know what you're doing and the list is always on the internet anyway, I don't see the point in hiding the requirements.

Secret Achievements are usually story related or contain some sort of spoiler, no? That was my understanding.
 
Falt said:
Secret Achievements are usually story related or contain some sort of spoiler, no? That was my understanding.
You're right, that would be the logical reason. It's just that when I see more than half the list being secret in games like FF13 it strikes me as overkill (I usually will glance over the list to see which ones would be interesting to accomplish).
 
Am I allowed to link porn? I think I am not. Well if I am not allowed, PM me if you porn private eyes out there care to help me find a name for this pornstar.
 
S. L. said:
you should have chosen more exciting pics for the utena thread, the one you used are fairly boring :P

Haha you try and find pics that are both exicting and not spoilers! Well...probably something from the opening...
 
I'm still having trouble grasping concepts as I try to read some Stephen Hawking. If I'm trying to think of an object in the four dimensions that we can understand, am I supposed to sort of picture it as it is during a certain duration of time? Let's take something simple, like a cube that moves from one point to another. If I want to describe it in its fourth dimension, I need to picture it at all points at which it existed in that duration? And then also the motion resulting from it being dragged through space on this planet rather rapidly? Also finally starting to actually understand why the speed of light is such a limit is making my sci-fi loving mind sad. :(
 
I haven't seen a play in a long time. Looking at the upcoming plays at my local theater... ugh

Where are all the playwrights my age that grew up on saturday morning cartoons, junk food, 80s music, and kung fu flicks

What plays were written by this generation? New York probably has a bunch of kick ass martial arts plays. Any on youtube or netflix I can watch since I don't live there?
 
Fuu said:
You're right, that would be the logical reason. It's just that when I see more than half the list being secret in games like FF13 it strikes me as overkill (I usually will glance over the list to see which ones would be interesting to accomplish).

I hear that, I'm the same. Lost Odyssey was the last title I played with well over half the achievements being hush hush. It's for the greater good so I can't fault them for it.
 
Hi guys, can anyone help me with a simple math problem?

I got emailed this from a younger family member since I'm "good at math", but it's just that it's been years and I've forgotten the rule with exponents.
Can anyone show me how this is solved, I'm sure I'll get it and be able to help her with other problems afterwards


f(x)= x^4 - 4x^3 + 6x^2 - 4x+1 that is supposed to be the same as f(x) = (x-1)^4
 
Why the hell does America use month/date/year instead of date/month/year like the rest of us, it completely baffles me, it makes no sense at all and I think that they're just doing it to be different.

Example: I'm at school writing shit down when I turn to the person next to me and ask for the date to put on top of my piece of paper. An American would say "it's March 29th" whilst the rest of us would say "it's the 29th". What possible reason could you have for telling me what month it is, I mean who doesn't know what month they're in. Seriously, things like this just completely baffle me due to their uselessness and complete absurdity.
 
Mr_Brit said:
Example: I'm at school writing shit down when I turn to the person next to me and ask for the date to put on top of my piece of paper. An American would say "it's March 29th" whilst the rest of us would say "it's the 29th". What possible reason could you have for telling me what month it is, I mean who doesn't know what month they're in. Seriously, things like this just completely baffle me due to their uselessness and complete absurdity.

Uh, no, an American would say "the 29th."
 
Mr_Brit said:
Why the hell does America use month/date/year instead of date/month/year like the rest of us, it completely baffles me, it makes no sense at all and I think that they're just doing it to be different.

Example: I'm at school writing shit down when I turn to the person next to me and ask for the date to put on top of my piece of paper. An American would say "it's March 29th" whilst the rest of us would say "it's the 29th". What possible reason could you have for telling me what month it is, I mean who doesn't know what month they're in. Seriously, things like this just completely baffle me due to their uselessness and complete absurdity.
No, Americans would just say it's the 29th as well.

The difference is the way we order our day and month. I assume we put the month before the day because that's the way we verbally say it over here - "September 11th", not "the 11th of September". Not to mention, I'm almost positive we've ALWAYS done it like that, even before we gained our independence from England. I mean, the Declaration of Independence is dated in that format.
 
dallow_bg said:
Hi guys, can anyone help me with a simple math problem?

I got emailed this from a younger family member since I'm "good at math", but it's just that it's been years and I've forgotten the rule with exponents.
Can anyone show me how this is solved, I'm sure I'll get it and be able to help her with other problems afterwards


f(x)= x^4 - 4x^3 + 6x^2 - 4x+1 that is supposed to be the same as f(x) = (x-1)^4
I think I've solved this one myself!
Unless there's an easier way since it seemed like it took too long.

I just turned (x-1)^4 and distributed that out, eventually it simplifies to the longer equation above.
Man, felt good to do some math again.
 
Bioshocked said:
And this won't damage the insert?

It will - the oil in all your emulsifiers (such as goo gone) will stain the insert.
Just leave the shitty sticker on.

dallow_bg said:
I think I've solved this one myself!
Unless there's an easier way since it seemed like it took too long.

I just turned (x-1)^4 and distributed that out, eventually it simplifies to the longer equation above.
Man, felt good to do some math again.

The exercise is probably about HOW you go from the long form to the shortened form.
You've got the powers from 4 to 0 and you've got the coefficients of 1 -4 6 -4 1. The alternation of + and - coefficients, and the 1 4 6 4 1 curve should clue you in that it's (x^2 -2x + 1)^2. (5 points in the curve means you've got 3 terms, alternating +/- means you've got an odd number of negative terms, 1 4 6 4 1 means you're dealing with factors of 1 and 4 (1 and 2) and some summation of those to yield 6 (+1 twice, each time you diddle x^2 to the +1, and +4x^2 once, when you diddle -2x and -2x).

Once you've got (x^2 -2x +1)^2, it should be easy to recognize that it's [(x-1)^2]^2, or (x-1)^4
 
Bioshocked said:
And this won't damage the insert?
Same issue with me and stickers on CD inserts.

Depends on the paper really, if it's a high gloss paper, probably not, if it's standard paper, could get stained in the same way it would if it got wet.

I try to be extra careful, I'll dab GooGone on the tip of a paper towel or cloth, and only apply it gently to the sticker, trying not to get any on the actual insert surrounding it. Sure it can bleed through, but I don't put that much.
Let it rest for a bit, and then gently peel away, or use a thin blade to remove.

I wouldn't do it on anything extremely precious though.
 
Jexhius said:
Haha you try and find pics that are both exicting and not spoilers! Well...probably something from the opening...
utena_loop6kng.gif


utena_loop2rj8n.gif


:D :D
 
How do trees know when to grow back their leaves? Are they genetically programmed to grow them around the exact same time every year, or can an early/late spring trigger it sooner/later? which would maybe imply they need to detect an increase in temperature, sun exposure or UV rays.
 
Is it possible to get 480p on a Nintendo GameCube without the hard to find and expensive Nintendo component cables?
 
Joe said:
Is it possible to get 480p on a Nintendo GameCube without the hard to find and expensive Nintendo component cables?
I don't think it's possible. Not only do you need the cables, but you also need an older GameCube with the extra digital port.
 
What's it called when herbs and spices affect the taste of other foods when stored in the same area? Like you put some fresh rosemary in with the bread and later the bread has a rosemary taste even though there isn't actually any in the bread. Also how does that work?
 
kai3345 said:
So I have a SeaGate 120 gig external USB hard drive, I use it to store all of my games and stuff because my computers hard drive is too small to store that much stuff. And everything worked fine yesterday but today I tried to get on steam to play some TF2 and the drive was unplugged "Oh, I'll just plug it back in" so I do and you know how whenever you insert a USB stick it runs "Autoplay" and scans for the files on the device? Well normall it takes about 4 seconds and bam im in. But now its going at an extremley abnormally slow pace. I can still get to my files, well at least some of them. It detects about the first two or threee folders worth of files (after an hour of scanning I might add) and then the operation times out. I thought it might be infected with a virus or something, but a virus scanner can only scan stuff that is "there" and if the operation times out after only a few folders then a virus scan wont work.

So GAF is there a way I can get my hard drive working again, or at least a way to get my savegames and stuff off?

And yes my warranty is up
Posting this again in hopes of getting an answer
 
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