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If we, as a species, we’re worth half a shit at weighing long-term risks vs short term costs, there would be fewer McDonalds and Lipitor in the world. You’re focusing on the second half of the sentence quoted above: while it may unfortunately be true, it doesn’t negate the first half. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m headed back to my hotel in Ankara to take a shower. I’m a bit nasty from walking through a bunch of flooded streets today. While it’s not unheard of to flood here, apparently it’s happened more this year than anybody can remember. (I wrote that just for you Brent….this time, you can focus on the first half of the sentence and ignore the second). p.s. with only two bookends, it sounds like you have a pretty shite library.

They are issued. Just like in the military. Officers must sign for them. They are accountable not only for their securing the weapons in a proper manner, just like in the military; they are accountable for every discharge. And, if they do not do these things, just like in the military - they can be subject to an Article 15 or court [martial] (civilian style). And, if every one was required to register their guns, ensure they were properly stored, and ammunition were to be signed for by lot number (just like in the military), and the signing party held responsible for their expenditure; then law enforcement would have a much better path to resolving crimes committed with the use of guns. A by-product of this would be people maintaining better control of their weapons and ammunition. Finally, if the police were to come across a weapon that is unregistered for any reason - it gets confiscated and smelted. Over time, the number of unregistered weapons would diminish. If we had started this after Columbine, some 350,000 children's lives would not have been impacted by gunfire and 379 school shootings would have been lessened. A by-product of this would be the ability to take a walk and not fear getting shot. But, of course as long as the other 24 states pass constitutional carry, then everyone can walk around like John Fucking Wayne and carry a gun on their hip - making the world a much safer place. /s

So, what you're missing is that there are multiple problems. One of which is a warming planet and another of which is the prevalence of short term, selfish thinking based on lame assed arguments that the cost is too high. You know, like the old AAD arguments. No matter, with or without you it's happening.

We ALWAYS had to turn in our personal weapons to the armory on base when returning to base. Safely stored and guarded. On nuclear capable bases even. I NEVER saw any complaints. I never understood the guys that completely dismissed this level of safety once they became civilians. That time we had to take a Marine gate guard down though. All because of a hateful racist comment as he waved us through. Damn.

ER doctors are trying to get the information and a few images out about the combat injuries the AR platform DOES to small children. There is no reason everyday citizens should have military weapons.

No. We have no "soft" majors for athletes, no sports scholarships, and athletic prowess has zero weight in our admissions decisions (I was on the admissions committee for several years)..

Your argument appears to be that man made climate change doesn't exist because people don't want to pay for it and that trans people are bad cause Bud Light sales are down. The logic is so faulty that there really isn't anything of substance to discuss.

Hi Joe, Re: lame assed arguments that the cost is too high Those that sat in gas lines during the fuels shortage of the '70's did not concern themselves with the costs. They just wanted their cars to get them going again. When there is no more, the costs will not be something to be concerned about. BTDT, Jerry Baumchen

Hi John, I completely agree. And, I have little concern as to the manipulating of the stock mkt. It is the 2024 election where we will see it at it's worse. Jerry Baumchen

You forgot marketing and climate science, get with the program!

And there was a time when marketing to black people would have been detrimental for a brand. That doesn't mean black people were therefore inferior.

So one red herring. But there is: American Pulverizer Gun Shredder systems utilize our TRS Series Low-Speed High-Torque Shredder Joe, you understand the issues as does BIGUN yet you have never come up with a real meat on the bones solution. For about a hundred billion. or 1/8th the annual cost of the US defense budget. Every gun could be bought up and destroyed. I like guns as much as you do, But there are in fact solutions. What are yours? and no B.S. window dressing around the edges. No 'performance theater.'

Maybe if our schools and colleges got more concerned with academics and less with sports, this would cease to be an issue.

No. Not having extremists destroy an entire industry (one that actually IS important to the country) by abuse of the legal system. Keep in mind that the cops & military need to get their guns from somewhere. And even if every single gun factory was shut down today, we have over 300 million guns out there. Ceasing production won't make the problem 'go away'. It would just be more 'performance theater.'

It will only get worse.

Saw an important story on CNN tonight about coupling word text prediction to brain scans, using AI algorithms to predict people's unique speech/thought patterns as a function of brain function and personal identity - like a new type of finger printing! . It struck me a few people might try to use Cooper text to predict Cooper's unique brain scans, ....., leading to his personal identity using AI technology. I can see a History Channel program exploiting this technology. Someone may decide to take this seriously ..... someone like Colbert ? https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-use-ai-to-decode-words-from-brain-scans-180982097/ Cooper said 'get the show on the road' etc. For example: we could subject Ammerman to these tests to find out what he was actually thinking and knew as he conducted flight 305 along its flight! As a clue to where Ammerman 'actually knows' where 305 was when Cooper bailed ......... the possibilities are endless. We could get all kinds of people to submit to these tests to discover the truth of their claims. Jut typing words in a post or on Facebook could reveal one's brain function leading to truth! The possibilities boggle the mind. I would almost predict that someone will attempt to use AI to reformat the DB Cooper case to their advantage. Its just a matter of time. Maybe Flyjack will be first to 'mind print' his subject for criminology ? That would be a first. Can you guess what the person below was thinking/saying to himself based on these scans ? Given his unique brainprint, who is he? Where is he on Earth right now?

I gave this a couple days to see if anyone else remembered this. I thought Rob might chime in, as he generally remembers the details of early developments like this. And we all know what time and aging brains can do to memories, so as always, if I'm wrong somebody can correct me. But this is how I seem to remember it... The quick answers are that Bill Booth said "It's just another skydive", and it was Don Balch who said 'It's NOT just another skydive". Who was right? Well that's the 'trick' part of the question. They both were. The difference was in the timing and context. To flesh that out... As with many things in our sport, there were earlier precursors to tandems. I think some of those have been described in these forums, and wasn't there an article in Parachutist not long ago? One that I don't recall seeing mentioned was, sometime in the 70's Jim Handbury made a tandem rig. He wasn't trying to invent anything or revolutionize student training, he just had a young handicapped family member that he wanted to take up, so he built a rig and did that. Anyway, when modern tandems were being developed, it was Ted Strong and Bill Booth who were designing, testing and refining, discovering the need for drogues, and what-not. They got it dialed in, and it was time to build rigs, issue TM ratings, and bring it on-line. Well, there was some hesitancy among jumpers. That's when Mr. Booth said, "It's just another skydive". He wasn't promoting complacency or downplaying the need for training and diligence, he was just saying that there was no reason that tandems should not become a common occurrence and mainstay of student training. And he was right. Well, build rigs and issue ratings they did. And tandems quickly became popular with the customers, and it took off. Well, jumpers started noticing that their TM buddies were making lots of student jumps and making decent money, not to mention 'the Lois Lane effect', and there came a surge of interest in the TM rating. That's when Don Balch said, "It's NOT just another skydive". He was not just reiterating the need for proper training and due diligence, but also noting that the proper motivation was required to make an appropriate TM. And he, too, was correct. It would not surprise me if Mr. Booth updated to the newer saying, because clearly it became the correct view.

Maybe Macron can negotiate a peace treaty here...

Yes, that is the problem. The average global temperature is rising leading to more extreme weather events. Thinking climate change just means everyday is hotter than the past is honestly just sad if it's held as a true belief. A caricature of a straw man

Well, of course they do. (Women's vs men's sports for example - that's two.) The school has rules that state what the criteria are to compete in category. That way if a school says "genetic and phenotypic women only in women's sports" then everyone can decide where they want to compete. If there's a large contingent of people who think that's bigoted or something, they can form an "open" team to compete that way. The problem we are having now is that schools say "it's a girls' sport and everyone should know what that means." One of the big objections of the right wing is that no one should have to explain that; everyone should know. But being clearer up front will solve most of those problems, as the Olympics does. There's a youth baseball league in our town. It's 99% boys but there's an occasional girl on the team. Just not that big a deal. But if some parent wants to pull their boy out because "it's disgusting" or whatever they are free to. The key is explaining all that up front so the parent is not horrified when, halfway through the season, they discover that Kam is really a girl.

I shoe-goo my booties fairly regularly, and keep them on whenever it’s convenient (the snaps can be persnickety), and the booties have never been the first thing to go. But DONT goo where the elastic across the bottom (if you have that) attaches to the bootie, because the elastic can’t be replaced if you do that I probably have 500 jumps on this jumpsuit, and it’s showing its age. I’ve reinforced some of the leg seams, but it still works. Wendy P.

Yep -- this. Trying to see all sides of the issue. That's why I love our sport. We know every BODY is different, and you just have to learn how to fly yours. :)

More to the point is that BH can still afford all the coffee he wants so it just doesn't matter.

Uhmm, yeah not really. Claim: farm in Guatemala claims coffee production in peril due to climate change Observation: global coffee production is up, specifically in Brazil and Vietnam. Brenthutch: see there can't be a problem in Guatamala.

A casual reading of the science suggests that differences in androgen exposure exist as far back as in utero, 8 weeks after conception, and exist through early childhood. I have heard it claimed that this has a meaningful influence on performance and physical characteristics, but I don't know what the science actually supports. I know that science supports that individuals who are exposed to supernormal levels of androgens through taking steroids experience physiological changes that are long lasting, years after the steroids are discontinued, and potentially for life. Setting aside the science I think both sides are crazy here. The Alt-Right ignores the importance of inclusion, is often viewing this through a lens of bigotry and hate, and I think is distorting the scale of the problem. The Left on this issue is promoting societal and moral arguments as if they are science, and refuses to consider situations where the inclusion of trans athletes is potentially unfair to cis female athletes. Bill how does that apply to high school athletes who are competing in individual sports like track and field? It isn't a team sport. There isn't a second league to chose from.

Also use Shoe Goo but I do not put the booties on until just before getting on plane and take them off as soon as I land

FBI responded positively to my FOIA about the hair slide's location and said they'd look for it again. It has a very clear evidentiary tag (PC-H3225), so maybe it somehow ended up in a pile of random miscellaneous evidence at the crime lab or something. Worth a shot.

Norinco?

The standard around here is.... https://eclecticproducts.com/product/shoe-goo/

How about taking a page from skydiving competitions. Canadian skydivers frequently compete at the USPA National Championships, and are treated as "guest competitors" who are respected, but they will never win a medal at the USA Nationals. I have seen similar treatment when Americans competed at the CSPA Nationals and all they got was an honorable mention. It did not matter how many discs they stomped, they only got an honorable mention. The first three medals only went to Canadian citizens ... or landed immigrants.