I Tell You. You Decide If You Care.

So, it turns out there is a term for "phobia about pooping in public bathrooms." Parcopresis – fear of defecating in public places. Paruresis – fear of urinating in public places. Panic attacks/Panic disorder – fear of being unable to use a toilet in a public place. Specific phobia – specific fear of a toilet or toilet related situation. Source Okay, I knew about being uncomfortable, and going away and coming back when no one else is around, but a phobia? When I say "that ain't healthy," turns out I'm not saying something funny. I mean, it really is possible to damage the muscles, screw up natural body signals, and poison ourselves by holding in the poop. ...just because we're afraid someone else will think "Wow, good thing I've never in the thousands of times I've pooped, ever made a sound like that!" (Someone who poops once per day, poops 365 times per year, or 3650 times per decade, or over TEN THOUSAND tim...

If  you waste a lot of time at a computer, then you know how much screen capture utilities totally rock. One of my favorites is Greenshot , as it makes "capture the region I specify" as easy as pressing the Print Screen button. However, this is such an awesome function, that other apps like DropBox and OneDrive will also do this, and that means they overwrite the Greenshot settings in the Registry (or something), thus wiping out Greenshot's ability to respond to these hotkey combinations (like Print Screen). No problem, right?  Yeah, whatever. So, I learned that OneDrive had usurped the hotkeys when Greenshot said "The hotkeys got usurped, I can't help you anymore."  Sure enough, when you look at the Greenshot preferences, the hotkey combos are GONE. So, there's a "reset defaults" button, right?  You'd think.  Whatever. Make OneDrive stop owning the Print Screen hotkey. Make DropBox stop owning the Print Screen hotkey. ...

So, sometimes if I sleep in late, I risk overheating and getting a migraine. I long ago stumbled upon caffeine as a preventative and cure for my migraines. I always thought it was a vasodilator, until I mentioned this to a nurse friend, and she's like "Noooo, it's a vasoconstrictor." Which, of course, made no sense to me, so I finally went and looked it up . Well, turns out that migraines are complicated. I suppose anyone who gets the damn things frequently already knew that. Shows how lucky I am to get them so infrequently. I've also noticed that when I feel one coming on, I can pop a caffeine tablet (200 mg), and go back to sleep, and wake up and never actually suffer the migraine. Go figure. Maybe my pre-migraine condition is caused because when I overheat, the blood vessels in my brain dilate, and thus the caffeine helps me avoid that particular migraine. So, there you go. Coffee (and caffeine) can be good for your brain. (It's also effecti...

"More and more businesses are offering Wi-Fi as a service to customers. Whether it is at a restaurant, shop, or a favorite hangout, free access to Wi-Fi has become an expectation " Duh. "Friendly WiFi – an Initiative introduced by government agencies and managed by the RDI Trade Organization – recognizes public places that offer secure and filtered Wi-Fi with the goal of making public Internet safe for young people around the world." "The Friendly WiFi symbol is available to any venues providing public WiFi, who are committed to supporting the need for safeguarding online content . The Friendly WiFi symbol is displayed by each venue signed up to the Friendly WiFi accreditation and appears either on their landing page as you sign into their public WiFi, or is visible on signage within the venue.  "Wherever this symbol is displayed on site or online, parents and young people can be assured that the venues displaying the symbol have the...

The people at Google are all about data-mining.  The more data, the more gold.  But, they also recognize that people value their privacy. Here is a privacy check  to help you set your Google (especially G+) privacy settings.

If you've never driven on Seattle Alaska Way Viaduct, it's pretty cool. It's like a bridge over the city. On one side is the city, sprawling metropolis that it is, and on the other side is the waterfront and the ocean. There's even parts where the bridges are stacked on top of each other - Southbound traffic on one level, Northbound traffic on the other level. Unfortunately, it's also really, really old. It's been this major source of political in-fighting for years, since it has needed major repairs and overhauls. Oh, and they're building a tunnel beneath it. If you haven't heard about Big Bertha , it's pretty cool, too - it's like this tunneling machine straight out of science fiction ;-)  Anyway, Bertha is digging under the Alaskan Way viaduct this week, so they're shutting it down.  Yeah.  Good luck commuters!  Good luck tourists! Transportation Coordinators: Please forward to your employees as appropriate. Star...

Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" - is probably the most famous of the modern versions.  It's certainly the one I think of whenever I hear the line "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme." It's interesting to see that they used a  vocal counter-point borrowed from an earlier anti-war song by Simon. This vid shows the lyrics. The "anti-war" counter-point is almost impossible to hear, even if you know to listen for it.  It makes a beautiful sound, the background lyrics, and perhaps is a subliminal message, too. This version, by the Gothard sisters (who are not triplets), is just for fun.