champu

apparently. It was a 140 year jump in time from the discussion. Love the Naval tradition of recycling names. Yeah, it was a somewhat unfortunate reference because CV-11 was in service during WWII (which is what we were talking about) and was the victim of kamikaze attacks on more than one occasion. (see attached) Something that's interesting to me, that comes up quite often, are all the references to things the United States and her people have done in the past as they relate to current events. I'm going to be honest and say I've lost track of what the point is that people are trying to make with these references. Usually they're presented as either "everything is just a matter of perspective" or "you're a fucking hypocrite if you live in the US and condemn actions x, y, or z." But aren't we learning anything from our actions? Do we continue to use fireships, nuclear weapons, or insurgents as proxies? I think given that we're in the information age and given the current global economy, we (humans) owe it to ourselves to learn from each others' pasts, and not just from our own. I don't think the world will survive each and every country going through the growing pains the United States has, so dismissing current actions by people/nations on those grounds is probably something we should get away from.

At work we have office bays with a common area and six offices off of them. There's one thermostat that controls the whole bay located in the common area, between two of the office doors. A guy I used to work with would lean against the wall under the thermostat and talk with one of our other co-workers that was in his office. I'd be sitting in my office and slowly but steadily the air conditioning would start ramping up until it was forcefully blowing frigid air into the room, full blast. So I'd get up and walk out into the bay to find them having an argument about something stupid, and the guy under the thermostat was getting riled up and red in the face and I'd jokingly interrupt, "Hey, either calm down or get away from the thermostat, the rest of us are freezing our asses off!"

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-i/cv11.htm What suicide attack are you referring to? I don't think he's talking about the aircraft carrier...

General observations that things have historically coincided (under certain conditions) are fine, but without "dissecting the macroeconomics of the US" I'd suggest you lay off demands that taxes be set at xx% to avoid certain doom. Why don't I do it? Because I recognize how complicated it is and that I don't have the time. And even if you or I put in the time to come up with a workable model, we would end up with unknowns in our equations that would lead us into the same subjective/qualitative argument we're in now trying to set values.

Cheat sheet: 1864 - First GC - Addresses Sick and Wounded - Coincides with establishment of the Red Cross 1906 - Second GC - Oops, we forgot about sailors 1929 - Third GC - Treatment of POWs (Japan was one of the countries that signed but never ratified the treaty) 1949 - Fourth GC - Treatment of Civilians 1977 - Article I/II - Prohibits attacks on population centers and certain infrastructure (makes use of CBRN weapons illegal) 2005 - Article III - Guide to labeling humanitarian personnel

If you make a claim, and people ask if you 1) have considered other factors in your analysis and 2) have more detailed explanations of the mechanisms you feel are in play to support your claim then you can either a) listen to what people have to say and bolster your argument with more information or b) yell your claim louder and become increasingly irrelevant. What's it gonna be? We all know what it's been thus far.

Just steer clear of the blackberries in UAE... ...and don't use the phones that aren't crippled for anything remotely controversial.

I told you once.

I wrote a post last year that called attention to some Iraqi Imams who were consistently outspoken against violence, all the way up until they were killed by extremists themselves. Unfortunately that thread got out of hand and the whole thing ended up in the recycle bin so I can't get to it.

Remember the childhood riddle, "How much dirt is there in a hole five feet wide, four feet long, and three feet deep?" Answer: "None. It's a hole." That's a neat analogy Thanks.

It would be interesting to start drawing/analyzing that from a control systems standpoint (and I assume someone already has.) Because the availability of (and thus how difficult it is to obtain) the $110,000 job is also a function of the tax rate. Plus, within a given tax scheme the incentive to work harder is a non-linear function of income (probably multimodal.)

Remember the childhood riddle, "How much dirt is there in a hole five feet wide, four feet long, and three feet deep?" Answer: "None. It's a hole."

On the bright side, you didn't... -Make a wingsuit jump shooting video and stills -Try to deploy your main and get lines wrapped around your arms and cameras and have a bag lock -Chop your helmet, wings, and main dropping all the handles -Fight yourself free of the mess and pull your reserve (also dropping that handle) but so low that you also have a cypres fire -Have your freebag land on a transformer in a nearby power substation and catch fire -Completely lose your main and cameras (and helmet and audibles) -Have a lineover on your reserve -Pull out your hook knife to try to clear it but drop the knife -Crash into your own car in the DZ parking lot -Break both your legs, both your arms, your pelvis, your back, and several ribs -Have the medics cut up your reserve, your wingsuit, your harness, and your car to get you free -Get life-flighted mulitple times until you get to a hospital that can operate on you Was this you, someone else, or a conglomeration of events? Damn. I was just trying to come up with a hypothetical "most expensive possible skydive ever." It's almost, but not quite, a mix of actual events. I'm not aware of anyone ever crashing into a car in such a way that they end up "in it." I've seen mains and harnesses cut up but never a reserve or a winguit. I've had my chopped main land [ever so luckily] on the ground between two transformers in a power substation, but never seen gear destroyed in such a manner. I've seen each of those injuries, and some combinations of them, but never all at once. I guess to add insult to injury someone could come to your hospital room and ask, "is this the first time this has happened to you?"

On the bright side, you didn't... -Make a wingsuit jump shooting video and stills -Try to deploy your main and get lines wrapped around your arms and cameras and have a bag lock -Chop your helmet, wings, and main dropping all the handles -Fight yourself free of the mess and pull your reserve (also dropping that handle) but so low that you also have a cypres fire -Have your freebag land on a transformer in a nearby power substation and catch fire -Completely lose your main and cameras (and helmet and audibles) -Have a lineover on your reserve -Pull out your hook knife to try to clear it but drop the knife -Crash into your own car in the DZ parking lot -Break both your legs, both your arms, your pelvis, your back, and several ribs -Have the medics cut up your reserve, your wingsuit, your harness, and your car to get you free -Get life-flighted mulitple times until you get to a hospital that can operate on you

Never hit anything (an aircraft, another jumper, trees, the ground, etc.) going really fast.

No, I'm suggesting that taxes be kept high and write-offs be kept generous to ensure reinvestment by the wealth-holders. Profit-taking and stashing cash is a real problem for a healthy economy, it stagnates spending. Your quote above suggests that an active economy would have allowed Clinton to raise the top income bracket to 50% for the purpose of helping to pay down the debt. I was going to agree with you, but now you're telling me that's not what you meant. Oh well, such is life. The underhanded BS is your lame attempt, the rest is mine. Are you saying tax rates are not largely responsible for the economic state of the nation? I'm saying the top marginal personal income tax rate isn't the direct hard-line into the heart of the economy that you're selling it as. I think you're trying to chip away pieces of wood by banging on the back of a flathead screwdriver with a crescent wrench and you're going to end up with broken fingers. You might want to dig around in your tool bag a little longer and see if you can't locate a hammer and chisel. You've glossed over how you think personal income taxes affect the investment actions of the big-time wealth holders. I also don't think you've taken much time to think about what else these tax rates do. As I've pointed out before, I think this is a case where you argue all day long about going after the "rich people", but then the actions you suggest end up sticking it to a different group entirely. Come on back with your non-responsive rhetoric; I'll be wating. The sarcasm in my last post was because I knew even though what you wrote could have been interpreted as progress in making you think more critically about your view on this, I shouldn't hold out hope for much besides a repost of the plot you made. How's that axiom go again? Correlation means something or other? I forget...

The Notebook or Marley and Me. A little cheesy, but even guys cry at those. I didn't cry when I saw the notebook. Don't know if that means I'm broken or something. The only movies that have made me cry were Apollo 13 and Shawshank Redemption.

Well, I try not to presume that anyone is anyone else's "guy" solely due to political party unless they say otherwise. Particularly not this guy. But, devil's advocate or otherwise, can anyone explain what this guy's argument is?

Well, bicycles are a slippery slope. I mean, next thing you know... um... er... where exactly is he going with this?

Wait, are you suggesting that taxes be set to optimize receipts based on how the economy is performing to finance government expenditures? I thought you were arguing taxes should be used as an underhanded manipulation and that historically top marginal rate increases, in and of themselves, were directly responsible for the state of the economy. If you've changed your mind then... well... I guess we're done here.

wouldn't that be, "you'd be able to see it form a moon AGAIN?" One theory - but not proven. So basically, almost ALL of the explanations and "truths" are actually just theorys. If you don't agree with the words "Almosty All" perhaps you would care to put a percentage to it. 42%

I only have about 900 velo jumps but I'd say you have the right idea. I've had openings spin me 360 degrees because it inflated asymmetrically, but I've never had the canopy fly itself into line twists.

ok... but it looks like he is in a fairly hard right hand turn at that time and may just be trying to even it out? I don't doubt that's what he was trying to do. How's that saying go? "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."

Better yet, watch the slow motion repeat at 0:46

After using one, I stand by my original assessment. The best analogy I can find for using the iPAD is that it's just like living with a control freak. (I should know, I lived with a control freak for 20 years before we divorced). Depth-First Search (DPS) dating?