A good method I have used is to acclimate people around you to the idea of you wearing headphones Start by announcing "I'm going into the 'cone of silence'," or whatever before doing something that requires uninterrupted effort, like a large spreadsheet. After a while of doing that, people stop questioning.

To respond to your rant, I went to a non-Ivy League school and most of my professors were just fine. I'm not certain your experience can be so easily pressed into the prestigious-vs-non-presitigious mold. Some schools just hire better teachers, and some excellent teachers exist outside of the Ivy League.

Just finished the first book in The Last Policeman trilogy by Ben Winters. While I await the arrival of the next one, I am cracking into a re-read of the Ware Tetralogy by Rudy Rucker.

Actually, in Spanish, it would most likely be 'meh-LAH-nee-ah', and I was going for a minor variation on that, as the spelling is not "Melanie" in Spanish. So not that bizarre. Incorrect, sure, but not bizarre.

Technics SU-V5 Amp paired to a Technics 10-band EQ (I sadly cannot remember the model at this moment). I don't know who manufactures what now, but back in the day, Technics was manufactured by Matsushita (Panasonic) in Japan.

"Ivy league schools like Harvard are looking for people who will..."

I don't know, I'm not really for encouraging kids to be something starting at 14 (where you'd have to begin, at the start of their high school tenure) in the hopes they might get a little pat on the head and an open door to a school whose overall academics aren't any better than a lot of state schools.

I second this, for other reasons. I bought some vintage equipment, including an early-80's stereo amplifier and 10-band graphic equalizer on the Bay of E's. Made-in-Japan stuff you can't find anymore (because very little is manufactured in Japan anymore, alas).

Here-here, well said. I am in the exact same boat, except my wife and I are expecting our first (probably only) child.

Said no one, ever. :)

If they could do that, there would not be that many arguments to begin with. Maybe.

Am I the only person who reads this and thinks that although relationship are (and have always been) occasionally tough and require work, this sort of basic conflict resolution is something we seem to have lost over the years?

Well, that's true. I guess I was thinking in terms of the Moller car, which seems to use ducted fans, eschewing wings for lift.

It seems like they keep thinking that two years is all you need to come up with the solution the pesky problems of, you know, keeping upwards of 4,000 pounds of vehicle up in the air while also making sure junior doesn't lose an arm on the way to soccer practice.

All things considered, it probably still smelled better than some parts of NYC do now?

I'd go classy. I assume we're talking 60's-70's vehicles? If in France, the Citroen DS. If in Germany, a Mercedes 6.9. Elsewhere in Europe, a BMW 5- or 7-series. If in North America, the Cadillac Fleetwood, and if in Africa, Central or South America, the Land Rover Defender 90.

I didn't write any of the crap that passes for 'remote cabin in the woods' horror movies. Or any horror movies, really. I would love it if just once, the NOT "completely and totally unremarkable white person" wasn't the one who lived. Might make for a better movie.

Also:

"Obey the 10 Commandments, including not taking the Lord's name in vein."

Huh, neat tip!