jfields

Tonto, As paranoid as many of the gun owners on the boards are about registration and confiscation, I doubt you'll get a lot of accurate replies. For what it is worth, I don't have any, but I plan to buy some Super Soakers squirt guns once my daughter is old enough to use one.

That is always suspicious though, especially if there are kids around.

Wendy, I totally agree with your support of the PLF for bad landings. Only a few people around the DZ seem to really understand. Most of us that are comfortable with PLFs seem to have learned them thoroughly at the same place: Ft. Benning, GA. They do have the instructional method down pat. If people in a first jump course actually had to go though a number of falls in a swing landing trainer, I bet many of them would stop there. That would be a mixed thing. To skydive, you should understand that hard landings may happen. But I don't think it would help their business.

Do you find that as erotic as your precious Rocky & Bullwinkle video collection? Evidently not.... I'm sure you do. "Animal Kingdom" indeed!

It would never fly. Microsoft so has prior art for that approach.

Fine. Can't have Little Miss being sick. That just isn't right. Get yourself some non-leaking accomodations (bago) and you will have no excuses.

Wimp.

I agree completely. The comments that prompted the bet were public and vehement. So if the outcome is public (and even a little humbling) that seems appropriate. Nobody was forced into anything. Now it is time for Rhino to admit Bill was right, send his check off to the charity mentioned and move on with a little more wisdom and knowledge.

You may. And I might just have one. While not high quality lemonade, I do have some mix at home. And I am well stocked on the vodka. Although I may go with an alternative. Vanilla Stoli with ginger ale. Also mighty tasty. What Kevin said.

And then some. I'm not going there today. It is time for a beer.

Because Texas is obviously far from perfect?

Why not?

Nope. Minor correction: BillV: Scientific American

Are you still doing that whole Aggie thing, or have you transferred to Lincoln Tech. Auto Maintenance School?

If the sheep are lucky, all you'll do is eat them. Talk about animal rights violations of the worst kind.

Welcome to Ineffective Ethnocentricity 101. First off, internet petitions are about the most pathetic way to change policy you could imagine. Find a sturdy brick wall. Now beat your head against it. Same difference. Who gets the petition? Who has really signed it? Who really cares what a bunch of random net surfers think? Second, if they aren't messing with your dogs, it isn't really your problem. While we are each entitled to our own opinion, there is no global law that says everyone will get their way. Actually, everyone can't, because the world is filled with different opinions. That applies to both individuals and entire cultures. If you insist on trying to force your standards on people that don't agree, you have to be prepared to be on the receiving end as well. If you can actually make that mental leap to where you are willing to be subject to other people's equally valid whims, then at least try to make your point in an effective way. Be factual, convincing, and target the right people with your efforts.

I totally agree. We have just been discussing the left/right liberal/conservative ends of the spectrum in this thread. There are certainly others. It is like focusing on a dimension before moving on to others. Besides, I can only type so much.

If consulting is basically dictating actions and then asking them if they want in on our deal, then I suppose we did. We hardly gave it a fair shot. Sizeable? How did the non-US elements compare in size to the US ones? How broad of a coalition was it? Depends on how you look at it. They went from being subjects of a repressive Iraqi dictatorship to being subjects of a less opressive foriegn power. And along the way, we demolished the infrastructure of their country. We could have handled it a lot better. We can't claim ignorance either, because lots of people discussed the folly of the plan, from past experiences with similar ones. I disagree, but we are both entitled to our opinions.

Those are the actions I was referring to, for most of the reasons you mentioned. In many ways we have gone from being a playground leader to a playground bully. The actions (smacking the guy that really needs it) can be the same, but the difference is in the method. This time, we didn't consult the other folks on the playground. While they may agree that the particular person needed to get put in their place, they are frightened by our reckless unilateral action, wondering if we are resposible enough to only act against those that really deserve it.

SpeedRacer, It really depends. I'm like you, in that I like to do a variety of things in my free time. But not everyone is like that. I used to work at the National Institutes of Science and Technology. There is a major amount of brain power there. Many of the people worked longer than average hours and came in on the weekends. They weren't doing it to impress the boss or get another step up the corporate ladder. They did it because they loved doing science. Going to "work" was a way they could have someone pay for all the tools they needed, have great support, have the administrative burdens lifted from them, all while they got to do the thing the loved while getting a paycheck. When people work overtime/extra for those reasons, I envy them. They love what they do and get satisfaction from it. When people put in the extra hours doing something they don't enjoy, just to be a better drone, then I pity them. The enjoyment people do or don't get from it makes all the difference.

The trend in the US government right now is not to ignore people outside the US. That is silly. The trend is to use them as bombing targets. I'm so glad we are long past the "End of major fighting". What a relief. I'm sure our esteemed president will make sure it marks the end of major casualties as well. Some of our media outlets are pretty whacked out. Despite my disagreement with many of them, I think the range of opinions in the media is a great thing. We aren't limited to hearing a single party line. People can choose to get the news that reinforces their views and strokes their egos, or they can pay attention to a variety of sources and actually learn. Mikkey, some of us folks that live in the US are pretty apalled at our country's recent actions. All we can ask of foriegners is not to hold it against all of us.

Gimme time! I can only go through my To-Do list so fast...

That is totally fine. That is a very different statement than the one that was made earlier. I agree with you. The right probably does see it that way. That is not saying that it is an indisputable fact. While I don't generally like Fox news, I have no problem with their existence. The more media outlets we have, the better. That way, people can choose, and have a wider range of opinions to factor into their own decisions.

He was saying that the media infrastructure of the entire country (not just a county or state) is far to the left. I just called him on it and asked for some proof of what I considered a silly statement for a number of reasons. First, like you said, it is regional. Second, if you take all the media in the country combined, it would, by definition, be considered average at any given time, since it includes everything. Lastly, he attributed specific actions and motives to the "left-leaning media", such as conspiratorial plotting and attacking. Those specific accusations need to be backed up with some facts to be taken seriously.