A.G. Riddle and L. Ron Hubbard are trash. Both are ridiculous and infantile. The worse thing about Riddle's trilogy is that it actually gets worse as it goes along, not to mention his writing is barely above a middle schooler's. Should have been more Stephenson and Reynolds other than the obvious; Seven Eves and Reamde, among others of Stephenson's, are groundbreaking.
People who exhibit this behavior deserve every bit of embarrassment available. Simple solution: wait until the light on the button (or indication arrow on some elevators) goes dark before pushing it again! It amazes me how unobservant most people are in situations like this; to save yourself embarrassment and the rest of time from your stupidity, take two seconds and look around you!
Pure coincidence. Vader's look was based on Samurai helmets with elements of a skull. The inspiration for C3PO was the Maria robot from Metropolis. Shortly after the first film came out I bought some fan/effects magazines that had interviews with all of the concept artists and they stated as much. I'm sure there's more documentation out there than just my recollections as a 13 year old.
It's on our 16th Street pedestrian mall, and since the eighties they've always had problems with people loitering outside, especially young people. It was related to me that they started playing classical because it was annoying to the younger crowd, thus acting as a deterrent to loitering.
Years ago here in Colorado there was a burger chain called Around the Corner that had all sorts of combo burgers, one of them being the Pizza Burger. I have found memories from the late sixties of going there and having my favorite which was the Pizza Burger. Sadly they closed down in the nineties. Each booth had it's own telephone that connected you to the counter to order, then they'd buzz the telephone to let you know when it was ready.
Mindy & Zook, you hit the nail on the head, these horns have been around forever here in the U.S., but called something different. I fondly remember hearing random "BWAAP"s during hockey games in the 70s from horns just like the ones everyone is in such an uproar about now.
I agree with the previous posters about needing to take it up with the manager before not leaving a tip, 9 times out of 10 the manager will reduce the entire tab.
As far as tipping overall, Oregondave asked "do you double your tip when the service is fantastic?", no, just bump up the percentage by how good the service is. In most larger cities it is customary to tip 20% for good service as a starting point. If there was something wrong with the service, but not overtly bad, I'll tip 15%; if it completely sucked, 5-10%. On rare occasions I have tipped 25% if the service was exceptionally good.
Just went to the Shining Ball at the Stanley Hotel (the place that inspired Mr. King to write the book) and had a great time; stayed in the room right next to 217, only spooky thing was a snoring "ghost". Thanks for the articles, my vote is for the Birds and Psycho!
As far as tipping overall, Oregondave asked "do you double your tip when the service is fantastic?", no, just bump up the percentage by how good the service is. In most larger cities it is customary to tip 20% for good service as a starting point. If there was something wrong with the service, but not overtly bad, I'll tip 15%; if it completely sucked, 5-10%. On rare occasions I have tipped 25% if the service was exceptionally good.