I got this idea from another forum. Ok I'll start:

My dad used to own a bowling alley. Those claw machines that allow you to get stuffed animals (regularly found in arcades places) has a timer that changes the claws strength. Therefore, if you are playing when the claw is on strong, you are almost guaranteed to get the stuffed animal. In other words, the claw can be weak for 20 min, then switch to strong for 2 min, and then to weak again for 20 min. Those times are adjustable.

Children's Charities:

The money you give actually doesn't go directly to the child, it goes to the community or charity center the child lives near. So don't believe it when you hear "the money goes straight to the child". The only thing the kid gets is to be allowed to participate in the charity program.

-It actually takes 6 sponserships for one child to live off. Even if the kid has a sponsor, he/she won't live adequately unless the charity finds him/her 5 more sponsors or so.

Non-for-profit organizations have an overhead as much as 45%, but the best ones have only 20%.

Charities hire "middlemen" for million dollar contracts. The middlemen are basically private sector companies that have a responsibility to bring the charity certain amount of sponsors/donations in any means, usually canvasing on the street.

The people on the street who work for the middlemen, who in turn works for the charity, will say and do almost anything to get you to sponsor a child. They have a quota and get bonuses every time they get people to sign up.

The same thing goes for other non-profit organizations, like for example, greenpeace. They do the exact same thing.

Investing money with your bank:

The vast majority brokers that handle your money know jack shit. You can easily do what they do by yourself with just a little research. They don't even give a crap about you as the bulk of their profit comes from institutional investors.

They just make money on you from the commissions on doing trades. They are basically babysitting your money while making money off of you with fees from trading.

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality."

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag, carrying a cross" - Sinclair Lewis

Hmmm. First thing that came to mind was that drinking cocktails at a club or restaurant is one of the grossest health risks I know of. It's because of the garnish. If it's a restaurant, your server has been helping bus tables, scraping leftover food off dirty dishes, handling cash, etc. I wash my hands a lot during a shift, and use tongs for iced tea lemons when I can. But at the bar side, servers just grab the fruit garnishes bare-handed, plop them in or on the drink, and serve that up. The germs on my cleanish hands get mixed in with germs from dirty servers' hands. That fruit garnish bin is a cesspool. I've also been out and often seen bar patrons reach in and grab extra garnishes. Eww. At least the servers are trying to keep their hands clean. Can't say the same for someone stupid enough to help themselves like that.

Good thread.

*Ok it's common knowledge not to get into any beef with your server when eating out. Just suck it up and take it out on their tip. That way they can't mess with you after you've meted out justice. Although I have had waitstaff hurling unpleasantries as I tried to exit.


*When visiting the dentist (or dr.) it's always good to get a second opinion especially if it's pricey and not fully covered by insurance.


*Avoid purchasing extended warranties.


*Be careful of those fast food carts selling hot dogs, halal, whatevers. They don't really have enough running water to keep things as clean as they should even if they wanted to. Majority of times they don't give a fuck.


*Grocery shopping; after checking the expiration dates on the package, double check the meats and fish by poking a hole in the plastic wrap and take a big deep sniff. If you smell rot you know it's rotting. If you smell bleach, it's rotting and they tried to cover the stank with bleach. Run!
One time I even got a perfectly good carton of milk (expiration date checked) but out came solids with stank when I used it. Many times the truck deliverers will not bother to rotate the stuff during those hot summer days or it will be sitting around in less than cold places so be careful.

*Try to avoid drinks when served by fountain as opposed to say bottled or canned coke. Those fountains, if they aren't dismantled and cleaned out, the tubes will have mold and fungus. Sometimes you can smell it when you drink it. Smells like an old dishrag with funk. Run!

Keyboard Jockey,

Armchair Playa

-- Those delicious "made from scratch" rolls at the steakhouse aren't really made from scratch.

-- The salad bar is a disgusting health hazard. People have been sneezing and coughing over it all day, and many people disregard the tongs that are put there to help them pick things up.

-- If you sell a video game or system at a game store, never expect to receive any more than 50% of what the item is worth. Usually they'll aim to give you 20-30%. You'll usually get more if your stuff is in good condition - few scratches on games, no dust in the system. Research your stuff beforehand so you know what it's worth, and use that to haggle.

-- Never clean cartridge games by blowing in them. Use a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol and scrub the teeth, then swipe the dry end over them to dry it off. Rubbing alcohol and a chamois cloth will work to clean disc games.

-- The "Red Ring of Doom" fix is, 90% of the time, extremely simple and not worth the $150 Microsoft makes you pay. It's usually caused by poor soldering on the motherboard, and little bits of solder cross the silicon where data is transmitted.

ALL original-style PS2 reader eyes are potentially defective, and will eventually stop reading discs no matter how good care you take of your system. The Slims don't have this problem, luckily.

~Emmy~

As long as your heart is the colour of all men, you will live forever.

He kotahi tatou me nga waiata - Through music we are one.
내 호버크라프트는 장어로 가득 차 있어요

I worked in a bagel place in college

- Bagel chips are really double-baked day-old bagels (not rotten though)

I'll try to think of more later

Babies instinctively know how to nurse at birth (unless bogged down with drugs)
In fact, if left on the mothers chest (skin to skin) after birth they will find their way to the breast with no assistance from the mother and latch on and nurse. I have seen amazing videos of this!

- I can remember the recipe for the cinnamon buns at Cinnabon ... it's all about the butter and dough

- If you shop at Costco, hold onto your receipts for everything. If you don't return a lot of items, you can get away with returning some things (broken DVD player, etc) waaaay after the 60-90 days. Just be really creative the with the story and keep the box in immaculate condition.

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls. The most massive characters are seared with scars. ~ Khalil Gibran

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. ~ Mahatma Ghandi

I used to work in the Sony building in NY. And they would send out memos to the employees asking everyone to call the radio stations asking to hear whatever newest single they were trying to push. So messed up!