Nightingale

I love my neptune and haven't had a single problem with it.

hmm... Do you have an urgent care or doctor you can go to? There's a lot of different things that can cause rashes, so there's a lot of different ways to treat them.

yeah. what she said. =)

Got a link to the rest of the speech?

Personally, I just wear soft contacts. I won't wear rigid contacts anytime there's a chance of getting hit in the eye, like in RW where you're a newbie and close to other people. I've never found goggles that fit well over my glasses and don't push them into my eyes exactly like you described. Plus, contact lenses give you better peripheral vision than glasses do. If you want to wear your glasses, a full face helmet might work for you eventually, but most DZs won't let students wear them. Because of the glasses issue, though, the DZ might let you...you never know, and it can't hurt to ask. Prescription goggles might be a really good option for you right now. I had a pair I used for skiing, and they rocked! (course, my prescription has changed now, so they got donated to charity). Your eye doctor can probably recommend somewhere to get them, and if not, there's a ton of places online. Like glasses, though, it's better to try them on before ordering, because everyone's faces and preferences are different, and you want something that's going to be really comfortable and work with your helmet.

What's your hard deck?

couple of my brother's friends saran wrapped a car once... from bumper to bumper with one of those economy size endless saran wrap rolls from a professional chef store or a costco. just keep wrapping til the saran wrap runs out. Also, at one point, they saran wrapped everything in their sister's room. everything. pens. paper. toothbrush. bed. hairbrush, etc...

Overall, I think religion has always gone where science hasn't gotten to yet. As we've made more scientific discoveries, religion has become more metaphorical and less literal, and deals more with what happens after death rather than why things happen in life. Centuries ago, they didn't have much understanding about how the world worked, so they came up with the best explanations they can... example: Volcanoes errupt when someone makes Pele angry, and Maui fished the Hawaiian islands out of the ocean with a big fishing pole. They needed some kind of explanation about why things happened, and how things came to be. Christianity has the whole garden of Eden story. Humanity has always been curious, and it makes people scared and uncertain when they don't have some kind of answer. Now, I think people are moving more towards an understanding that these stories are mythology, but still have a lot to teach us, so that even if they aren't true in the literal sense, there is a spiritual truth about them. If you've ever heard George Carlin's take on the ten comandments, what he ends up saying is that what it comes down to is "be honest and faithful" and "try really hard not to kill anyone." I think most religions try to teach something similar.

After searching google for half an hour, all I could find was the genetic stuff listed above.

Aside from doing genetic testing on every cat out there, because of dominant and recessive genes, there's really no way to know just by looking at the cat. Example: red gene Female calico: XO Xo Male orange: XO Y So, in that case, you'd have a 1/4 chance of getting a female orange, who'd be XX OO. Then, you have to factor in the Tabby gene, which is dominant. Female Tabby (either AA or Aa) Male Tabby (Either AA or Aa) if one or both parents are AA, you have 100% chance of getting a tabby. However, if they're Aa, you have a 75% chance of getting a tabby, and a 25% chance of getting a solid cat. Then, if one of the parents happens to be white, it's probably a dominant white gene (albinos are very rare, but look similar), so then you have to factor in a Ww or WW gene combination too, because white will override any other color gene, whether or not the cat is carrying the red gene. If one parent is Ww and the other is ww, then you have a 50% chance of getting a white cat instead of an orange. If both parents are Ww, you have a 75% chance of getting a white cat. So, we can tell that Dave's kitten is: XX OO ww and either Aa or AA, because she's female (XX), red (OO), not white (ww) and tabby (Aa or AA, because A is dominant).

I'd never thought about it, but most of the red cats I've seen have been male, so I googled it to find out why: The red gene is sex linked and exists only on the female (X) chromosome. This is a gene with symbol O and is probably the most interesting gene affecting cat color/pattern from a genetic point of view. Its effect is to replace all the eumelanin in the growing hairs with phaeomelanin. I.e, the hairs exhibit red-based rather than black-based colors. What makes it more interesting though is that: 1. The O gene is sex-linked on the X chromosome, and 2. In the heterozygote (female - Oo), it causes the Tortoiseshell pattern. So male cats are either O (red) or o (black), whereas females can be OO (red), Oo (tortoiseshell) or oo (black). [for simplicity we are ignoring rare cases of tortie males - these result from abnormal construction of the sex chromosomes]. There's also another gene that is dominant white, which overrides all the other color genes, producing a pure white cat. http://www.tenset.co.uk/catgen/indexus.html So, it looks like female red cats are rarer simply because there are 3 possible colors from that O gene, rather than just the 2 possibilities for male cats, unless the male cat has three sex chromosomes (XXY) instead of 2 (XY), giving it the same color options as a female.

the softpaws will come off every so often, so it's good to have extras lying around. Doing the whole set of claws is a pain, but once they're done, you're only replacing them as they wear off, so it's easy to just do one claw or a few at a time. I try to put the colored ones on my cats, because then it's a little easier to tell when they come off. It's easier to get softpaws on if you trim the claws first, but don't cut the quick (pink line that runs down the claw about halfay). People nail clippers work fine if you turn them vertically, but pet claw clippers are much easier to use. softpaws have been a lifesaver for my feet and furniture. My cat loves to leap out from under a table and pounce on feet and ankles. The other wonderful thing I've discovered is disposable litter boxes. Set it out for a week, then pick it up, toss it, and put out a new one. it's sooo much less hassle than a regular catbox.

Awww... what a cutie! if she's extremely playful, might want to invest in "softpaws". Kitten claws are SHARP and they'll pounce on damn near anything that moves.

They're entirely different skill sets. Tiger Woods uses his body for accuracy. Lance Armstrong uses his for endurance. Both require incredible control, practice, and talent. They're both great athletes.

There's a difference between a willingness to fight and a willingness to kill. There are many things worth fighting for, but fewer things worth killing for. Also, defense of yourself or someone else is a rather broad category. Many slaves were threatened with harm on a regular basis. Many soldiers fight to free people from leaders who would harm them. Killing to defend someone else doesn't just extend to defending people you know.

This entire thread is a spin off of a thread about PD employees asking their employer for help with reading skills.

There are plenty of native born US Citizens who can't read. Illiteracy isn't solely an immigrant issue.

My mom was bitten by one. She had a blister for about a week and it went away. Her colleague was not so lucky. She ended up losing a few fingers. Spider bites are unpredictable. See your doctor ASAP.

I won't wait for a parking space, but I don't mind if someone in front of me does.

The artist that did my helmet paint is fantastic. The paint job wasn't cheap, but it was worth every penny. She did an amazing job of getting the design that was in my brain out and onto my helmet. I'm sure she could do the same with a tattoo idea. www.pantagruel.net

Nope. There are some principles that should never be compromised, and I don't care how much cash is involved. The only good reason to kill is in defense of yourself or someone else when in imminent danger of harm.

If people want to smoke in their cars, let them. There's no need for new laws in this situation. There is, however, a need to enforce some of the laws we already have. If they want to throw their cigarette butts out the window and damage property, start grass fires, and litter, then bust them for property damage, arson or reckless burning, and littering. If their cigarette is obviously a distraction while driving, bust them for driving while distracted, or that state's equivalent. What someone does to themselves of their own free will is not the business of the government. Smoking shouldn't be a crime unless and until it infringes on the rights of others.

http://www.pantagruel.net/

It's nice to see a country taking steps to reduce restrictions on the personal lives of its citizens. I hope the USA will do the same, and I am writing to my government representatives to make my position known.

Well, how about saying "You're only 12, so you shouldn't be having sex now, and these are the reasons why..." and then add "when you're older and ready (and if ready to you means married, explain that), to make sure you don't have a baby before you're ready to be a mom or dad, there are ways to drastically reduce the chances of a pregnancy. These are what they are and how they work..." It's better that people have information before they need it rather than after. The problem with teaching "just don't have sex" is that children's peers will fill them in on what parents and schools don't, and a lot of the times the information they pass on is wrong, such as "you can't get pregnant the first time" and other myths that still get passed around. And if they don't find out from their friends, they'll find out from the internet, and we all know how much misinformation is out there. It isn't about preaching abstinance or not. It's about making sure that the information kids do get is accurate. It's far better if child gets their information from informed, responsible adults than their friends and schoolmates, who are often just as clueless as the child in question. Oh, to answer your question about who I was referring to when I used the term "they"... "They" is a pronoun, and pronoun usually takes the place of a noun which appeared earlier in the text. I apologize if I wasn't clear enough for you. To clarify, when I used the word "they," I was referring to people who wish to reduce the number of abortions, and, taken in the context of the sentence, specifically those people who also want to ban education about the contraceptives that could make abortions a non-issue. Again, I apologize if I was unclear.