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An interesting article in the newspaper today, about young men being overweight and not realizing it.

There was a catch in it: a lot of men feel like they need to lose weight, especially if they have girlfriends or meet their mother often. Women are good at accusing and nagging, but not really helpful. Everyone has been around long enough to know how to lose weight, it's not rocket science to most. Eat less, move more. But the thing is, that the pressure usually comes from around you as tips and suggestions on how to and why, when what men usually need is encouraging words and a way to work over it on themselves.

Now a lot of men spend a lot of time on the internet (this from the article on HS, biggest daily in Finland), and can find ways to cut back on carbs, maybe fat, what ever. A lot find it helpful to get encouragement from other people around the net, just by posting their figures and results, and getting feedback on it.

I totally get this. My girlfriend has made it obvious that I need to lose weight event hough I'm 174cm tall and 70kg, which means I have less fat in my body than she does. It's just, she feels like she needs to lose it, and I'm part of the family, so I'm suffering too, we've all seen these comics, I guess, since flintstones, and that was way back

Does this sound applicable to you? Or do you go to Zumba-classes? I read there's a website/forum in Finland, where people post images of their tummies. Apparently competition between men makes it easier to actually do something about it.

Just thought I'd share the joyous word of something.

Hi.

Just checking, if any of you guys knew anything about Humboldt University in Berlin or even studied there because I'm going there next autumn as an exchange student.

See ya

Hi.

I'm supposed to go teach the mind map technique to undergraduates this week. I did a little google serach and found out it's a registered trademark :Dv go figure!

I hear it's quite a common technique, at least among girls while writing essays or doing tests. I've never used it and I personally think it's pedagogically plain shit (here's the irony of me teaching it to kids). I don't know, to me it always seemed like a bunch of unrelated words floating around in a mess. Kinda like spreading all the pieces of a puzzle on the floor.

But what I'd like to know is, do people really find this so effective? Do you use it? I know it's pretty good for corporate planning nights when no-one has an idea, but everyone can shout a motive on a stickerboard

see for yourself:

Hi.

I know this is a stupid subject, and not really something I'd ask anyways. But my mom called me last night and asked me if she should buy an Xbox Imagine that. Anyway, I adviced her to wait a bit and consider. My brother of course encouraged her to buy one as soon as possible because he goes home more often and wants to play it. I'd never put 250â,¬ on a console, but... is the thing going to get old soon, or will it live long enough to be worth it? I really don't know much about these.

Also, why Xbox and not, say, playstation 3? My sister and his husband bought an Xbox360 too and they seem to like it. Which one is better? And the games? I suppose you can get every new game for each, but do they cost the same? PS3 can play older ps2 games afaik, to me that's really a good thing considering the amount of games made for it.

What do you think? I really don't want her to buy a crappy console :/

Here's why:

I got my salary, and have had problems with my bikes for 2 years now, broken tires, breaks, chains, you name it. Also, it's going to be snowy soon, so everythings really cheap now. So I've been to a couple of stores, smaller ones really, there aren't big markets in the city, and I can't go all that way.

So the Sportsverein in the centre's got these, and shitloads of them for 399â,¬ each: http://www.scott-sports.com/us_en/product/10058/55829/218074

Another, a bigger place only specialised in bicycles sells basically just Insera, from which the Tronic 28'' 24V (399â,¬) and MG-8 28'' 8V (499â,¬)

Other than that, well, I'd probably have to go further. Of course, both places say that their bikes are awesome, and you really don't need anything else. what do you think?

Yeah, so we (me & my gf) decided to have a holiday vacation and bought tickets to Berlin. We'll be spending from wednesday till monday there near the centre and just realised, it's huge. But like in every city in the world, there are places worth seeing and those you'd rather miss.

So I was wondering if anyone of you knew say, a nice cafe, a good place for dining, some interesting museum, we're culture freaks. Or anything, what ever comes to your mind that would be worth seeing/visiting. Then I'd be able to locate it on the map and mark it down, see if we'll make it in the couple of days that we have. Also, does anyone know where I could find some info about good clubs/bars and wherther there's perhaps a band performing or not?

Here's hoping someone likes Germany too

Oh, btw, we're leaving at the 18th of August.

No, I don't mean the sitcom.

I'm talking about monarchies around the world. I've been reading the news about the English queens' birthday and the lordships handed out like bread and the biggest news here, the Swedish wedding this weekend.

I've been quite a lot of John Milton and Thomas Hobbes from the time of the English civil war and it got me thinking. I'd peronally be really mad, if someone'd spend a lot of my money on their own overboard brithdays or birthday where you have to have 60 billiion elephants swimming across the Baltic sea just to make it look royal. Either way, all of this is just to keep up a status of "looking good" and wealthy in my opinion. The decisive function of a monarch as a sovereign in politics has long gone and like the president in Finland, they really have nothing but an artificial value in politics. But do you feel that a queen for example is an impportant part of your nation?

I can see that such a long lasting culture is hard to give up and probably not even necessary, but how does one find spending money into colourful peacocks and whatever costs just to show out, important? Of course, I do not persoanlly relate to any head of state because the governemtn is chosen every 4 years here by the commonwealth, not through heritacy, and it always keeps changing. But of course, a king has always been. To me it seems, these royal families are the most useless people in the country, living on the highest possible welfare

Do people in for example Sweden or England, or where ever they have kings feel that they're inportant and really worth spending all the money? As far as I know, the wedding of the princess and the tramp costs more than an ice hockey world cup event. To me it all sounds a bit medieval, you know, kings and queens

Tomorrow is Roxy Music live for the first time in Finland. I got the ticket pre-ordered, it was ~59€. Soon I realised, the ticket is too expensive for common listeners and I don't know anyone besides me that is a huge fan of Bryan Ferry and RM... So it seems I'm going to be alone at the concert and there's ano-one I can tell about it. I don't suppose any of you guys are in Helsinki tomorrow? I'm trying my best to have fun tomorrow, but so far, I've never been alone to a concert, and with Roxy Music, I doubt there'll be that many cute chicks to hit on while we're at it.

The warm up artist is a finnish band that is decent, but superb live, even though you didn't like their music. Check them out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kefLFlv6-VI

With that... Don't stop the dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV2OVFE-gW4

Hi. I started sketching with my new sketchbook, basically trying to draw a couple of walking dudes.

The problem is, I'm not really comfortable with drawing them from behind and I seem to have forgotten some of the anatomy rules...

Here's what I got, it's scanned, so it's a bit low contrast, but bear with me.



Basically the conversation in the bulles goes like this:

"Isn't it funny how it's so much easier to draw people from the front..."
"...than from the behind?"

And you see I've got a lot of problems with the behind view. Because it sucked, I never really got into inkin the lines. Also, it was 1:30 am and I realised I wasn't going to get it right, no matter how much I wiggled the guy's legs. Is there any hints/crits you could give me? I know it's just a sketch, but I'd like to get my angles right fromt he beginning.

Did the topic make you uncomfortable? No? I'll do it then.

My girlfriend had friends over, and they were all talking about penises and the sizes they had experienced. It was a bit uncomfortable, but I was hung over, so I didn't mind. Someone said every man at some point has measured their own length, and anyone who claims otherwise is lying. I don't want to make a statement here, I'll stay neutral. I read a study on this, Wikipedia has a lot of information on this, it seems to be everyones favourite subject to look at when they're at home alone. Apparently 95% of people put a few cm or even an inch more than the result is to exaggerate the results, which makes for example producing condoms a tad harder. Is this because everyone wants to know if they're alfa-male potential. After all, this seems to be the thing we find ourselves measuring each other in.

Apparently according to the girls, women have nothing to compare with each other. Apparently breasts aren't such a deal for them, they have no reproductive value... A Darwinist point of view on them is that the sexual focus has changed from the buttocks to the breasts in a long while, presumably due to standing on too feet, high above the waist area, and with that, they've gained a sexual meaning. That's probably why women put plastic in them nowadays

But that's because of men. Measuring penises is not because women are always there trying to compare them, or is it? There must be something to it because people lie. They lie to everyone and first of all, they lie to themselves. First you take a look, and it's the average length/girth. Then you try to adjust the measurer to make one cm more, and when asked, you give it one or two more again. Why? Does it really make you feel better, that when you see yourself naked, say, while having sex and you realize you're not as big as you say you are, and you'll never be. Would that not make it drop, make you feel less of a man? Accepting yourself as you are and learning to live with it would sound like an easier solution, wouldn't it?

I'm just puzzled over how much good will lying to yourself do. Sure some people will think better of you once you tell them your strategic measures. That or they'll think you're a strange creep. But they'll also know that you're lying, and so do you, and everytime you look in the mirror you'll remember, that your johnson isn't 9 inches after all. Kinda like talking about shaving your face every morning when your only 13 and don't even have pubic hair.

How much lying do you need to convince yourself of something that's not true? The above text as an opener... I know I've been telling everyone that I was in the ice-hockey junior national team when I was a kid and I've grown to believe that myself too, when truth be told I dropped out just the autumn I was called up to the camp with 100 other people Still thinking what's it worth :/

PS: Here's why you should never listen to women!

I made a bet, saying Germany would win. The attendant was Lena, playing her song, Satellite, and guess what, She won and I got drunk and made 5€!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QSgNM9yNjo

WOO

whoops, I deleted it

Hi.

I was thinking if you could tell me something, even suggestions are ok. It seems my connection keeps turning off everytime I get big. Usually it's ok, shutting down here and there, prolly from heating up or etwas. But now it does it all the time.

I realised I've been downloading from several peers, fast lately, and at that time it keeps disconnecting me. Could it be because I'm going too fast? Sounds silly to me. But then, I plugged it in to LAN instead of using wireless, and everything went just fine

I'm using a bloody Belkin54g, which was one of the cheapest wireless routers...

They're soft no more, are they?

Now I know I don't have a Visa or anything that'd help me order abroad, but I've got contacts everywhere. All I need is a hard disk now that my laptop's filling up. I know everything's bloody expensive here.

Could we possibly compare some of our retail prices? I could get people buy me some, you know friends who are exchange students from Australia to US.

I'm looking at a Lacie Grand 1Tb (usb) for 79€/71£/107$

Buffalo Ministation Lite 500Gt Turbo USB for 89€/80£/121$

Lacie Grand Hard Disk 2Tb USB2.0 for 188€/170£/156$

Is it worth making my friend carry my one through the customs?

Sorry for the boring thread

Hi.

I just noticed that Microsoft is providing a free anti-virus, also in Finland now. The site providing it is also linking to AVG and Avast! What do you reckon of this, and has anyone tried this yet?

I mean, yeah, MS is probably as good as Norton, but if they say the firewall is enough as it is in Vista and 7, would this be too, and where do they build their database from?

Would anyone recommend? After all, it's free too

I know it's a macho sport, but anyone watching?

It's the time of the year I'm watching american football. It's 3 am, and my girlfriend's sleeping

Doesn't really look like an interesting game this year. Everyone expected a game with a lot of points scored, yet it's 6-10 at half time... Seems like Manning is taking the pot home again, though I'd hope otherwise. I'm not really into the Saints, but after the hype on Colts, my friend put 20€ on Saints, and he's got 55€ coming if they win. No Falcons there this year, they're his favourite. I just go along usually

Well, at least there's the Who for those who like them.

So I was wondering...

I just got Victor Loomes again. It's a German freeware game, probably made as a promotional game for a company, I understand Telecommando games were such ones.



But I needed a DOSbox to execute it. No wonder, and I expected no less. The last platform to function with this is Win98 according to the site I got it from. I remember enjoying this game, but never really finishing it as my German used to suck So now I'm playing this for practise. And to finally discover the case of stolen diamonds.

I need emulators to beat half the games I used to play back in the days. I'm part of the Ultima6 Project Britannia just so that I could live the world again, because let's face it, DOSbox isn't really all that good. You'd need the proper equipment ie. my old Amiga...

But everyone who has Vista on their computer should know how hard it is to get some games to play on it, especially old ones. And it's not made any easier by the publishers. Now I know there are a lot of old school nerds here who'd enjoy them old games too... But to me it seems as if the developers are trying to make us play only new games. The old ones can be thrown in the bin. As is everything made in the early 90's were made obsolete. It's like throwing away music or paintings once they get old. Playing old and modest games is made possible only by private developers. What the hell is wrong with people? They could as well drag money out of the old games. Sell them again, but make them work properly on Vista par exemple. Some might do yeah, but most of the stuff is just plain shit. And to be frank, DOSbox isn't very good an emulator. Better than nothing though.

It's a problem I face every now and then. I feel like playing stuff that still raises nostalgic feelings in me. But nothing supports my wish It's as if they didn't matter anymore...

...act like you were... Wait, I'm not there yet

But I have a few question sto people from around. It so happens, that my girlfriend studies English filology and she needs to perform some local action at an English speaking country. An exchange or whatnot. So she was thinging getting a job there for a while before starting. Here's where you come in as my only connections to GB and Ireland:

Now I'm not asking you to get her a job, but you might perhaps be so kind to hint us towards a site(s) one usually uses to find short time jobs there? Or is there a common place for outsiders like her, and more than one/two?

With this, she'd also like to know how the appartment prices are usually, say, for a 1-room appartment near Legoland in Wondsor (this is my idea) And is there a good place to look for them.

Now I know this might be boring, but bear with me. It's not me you're helping, it's my girl. In fact you're helping a pretty girl to get rid of a geek for a while... so it's 2 birds with 1 stone

-thanks, says she

Hiya.

I've just come to realise, that there's a problem with my amp, and I was for long looking for new ones to replace the old.

But then I noticed, that it's only the right side speaker that doesn't work. So basically music sounds a bit one-sided. My set is rather old, from the 80's, but I love it because it has my grandmas old vinyl player. And having this one break down would mean, that I'd have to buy a new one, and one for fiddling around with old C-casettes.

My amp says in the back 45W and speakers at the minimum of 8 Ohms. I realised my speakers have an 8 Ohm limits, so they should fit. But! I tried one speaker from my gf's set, that was 6 Ohms, and it played well, though a bit more quiet. This was before I found out the amp wants a 8 Ohm minimum... Here what I did:

The old speaker has a cord too short. So there's an extension added to it. I figured, There was a problem with the extension cord or the speaker itself. So I removed the extension and attached it to a new speaker (mentioned before). There was no sound, so I thought it could be the extension cords fault.

Then I plugged the old speaker in without the extension, and heard nothing. so I figured it's either both the extension and the original one, that of the amp's busted. Then I plugged in the new speaker without the extension, and it played as said. So it shouldn't be the amp, but the 2 cords???!

BUT! I plugged my working speaker into the right-speaker-out, and it didn't work at all... So could the right-out have gone incompatible with my speakers? Because the "broken" speaker did work plugged into left-out. So it's not broken after all. So the thing is: my right speaker won't work for some reason, no matter which one I use as right. But, the new speaker, that shouldnät be very good fit does.

I just don't want to use there "new" speakers because the amp says min. 8 Ohms, and the speakers are 6 Ohms. But does that matter. And should I buld a new set from insurance fraud money, what should I look into? 220V? the Watts? or at least if the speakers are compatible?

Due to lack of money i haven't really been an audio whore yet, but I'd like to become one

It's been a couple o years now the state of Finland has been there, right next to Russia. Anyway, this is the first 1,5 years, that we actually had people around the corners, just sitting tight, humming and plainly begging for money. I assume this in common in most countries, but here, it's a newthing, and no-one really knows how to relate. There are houndreds of Romanian immigrants here, basically just sitting arounf begging for money. It's really something I've never seen before, and I don't know if I should be worried or not, or anything at that... No-one has ever been begging for money in Finland. What do you feel about them?

I've been thinking of this for a long time, but of course, I have more things to think of: the student union, a book I'm translating, a company I'm for and drinking, mostly drinking, and drunk I'm now... Anyway, we didn't know the point about drunkards.... no, beggars until now... and the people here aren't ready yet. What should I do, I mean, no-one gives away money, it's not the national way. why come here anyway? Because of EU?