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The Good Advice Committee had to answer an interesting question this week: Is it OK to email someone you are interested in dating, even if that person didn't give you his/her address personally? The committee members outlined a couple scenarios where this would be OK, and some that would be totally off limits.
The final decision was close, but in the end, the committee voted no, 3-2. Click here to read their opinions.
QUESTION
Is it OK to email someone you are interested in dating, even if that person didn't give you his/her address personally?
AMANDA: NO
My opinion is no, unless you want to look like a stalker. The obvious response to the email will be, "So, how did you get my address?" And what will the reply to that be? "Oh, I decided to look at member directories at every email service I could think of to try to find out how to contact you." Talk about scaring someone off!
Sometimes, technical manuals are hard to read and understand. Occasionally, they may even include pictographs that are supposed to help the user better understand the instructions. But what happens when even the pictographs make no freakin' sense?
Perform a Google news search on "olympic gymnastics controversy" and you'll notice 1,230 articles (at least, at this point) pertaining to what seems to be evolving into a silly event.
I don't want to take away the athleticism of the participants. They do things that not even the best breakdancer, which is what I want to be when I grow up, cannot do. But the reward for their efforts is a couple of judges apparently randomly giving out scores. One time, I think I saw the South Korean judge with a Scantron, trying to create a flag pattern with his scoring.
Just when you thought you understood something as simple as concrete, it has now been changed.
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed bendable concrete, which according to an article on the university's news service, is 500 times more resistant to cracking and 40 percent lighter in weight.
In case you missed it, the National Federation of the Blind recently won a reasonably large lawsuit against Target, claiming that Target.com did not meet minimal standards for people using screen access technology. While I normally side with the little guy over big corporations, there are a number of ridiculous things involved with this ruling, so I'll try to point out each one individually.
In a previous column, I mentioned that I might try to make the world's largest waffle, and an observant reader wondered what the record actually was.
Of course, I had no idea, so I attempted to look it up. Here's what I found:
The Recording Industry Association of America hasn't been making too many friends these days. I guess I should say that the organization does have many friends inside the music industry, because that's who makes up the the RIAA.
I'm not here to argue whether it's right or wrong to download free music where it's available, or whether it's OK to listen to your friend's "Beach Boys Greatest Hits Album." I'm just here to point out what the RIAA wants you to believe about the cost of music and CDs.
It's easy to blame a computer or program or even a social networking site for all the evils in the world. In fact, the last time I yelled at my computer, and told it to stop screwing up, you know how it replied?
It just sat there and did nothing. Yep, that's the obvious sign of a guilty party.