jfields

That is what you ugly people always say. Right up there with "nice personality". But of course, you don't have that either.

You need to have something else in there, for comparison. Like... Which is uglier? 1) Skreamer 2) Remster 3) Roadkilled possum after a week in traffic See the difference? Now that we have something as a reference, their utter ugliness will be more accurately illustrated.

Really really ugly!

I wouldn't say "blame" is the right word. I feel more like I was doing a civic duty to help out those people who didn't feel like indulging in cheap beer. Good tequila was provided as a viable option for those that chose to accept. Viking, well, chose to accept a fair amount.

Definitely not sucking here. Trust me!

40? Workaholic!

Computer support people tha work for attorneys aren't too far behind.

While there is nothing wrong with your bringing up the issue and mentioning a boycott, I don't think it will work. As a nation, we are too selfish. We have grown accustomed to cheap, high-quality goods brought to stores near us so we can buy them conveniently. The huge array of affordable merchandise helps keep our standard of living so high. Where does the stuff come from? Often, overseas. It permeates everything around us. Someone mentioned Nike. Nike owns no factories. Not one. Not a single Nike employee is working somewhere stitching tennis shoes together. The entire company is really focused on marketing, product development and supply chain management. They design shoes, stir up demand for them, then have someone else make them and ship them. They go where labor is cheap, because they know the price points Americans will pay for shoes. If they had to pay domestic labor, the cost would go up and they would sell less shoes. The Gap, Land's End, and other apparel companies are pretty similar. They design and sell. Every day, we tell corporations that this is okay. We buy generally buy mass-produced products over handmade ones, because they are cheaper. We buy based on price, without researching the origin. We only care about price and quality. As a whole nation, we actually care about price a lot more. There are some exceptions, and some local businesses will prosper on the basis of higher quality. My wife and I bought a wonderful hutch made by hand in the Amish country around Lancaster, PA. It is built with amazing dedication to quality, and it will last a lifetime. Our whole bedroom set? IKEA. We can't afford to buy that much furniture of the same quality as the hutch. We could replace the entire bedroom set twice over for the cost of the one piece of Amish furniture. Do I have a hatred of local furniture manufacturers? No. But the IKEA stuff is good enough at a great price. Such is economics. Movie making is no different. They are focused on the bottom line. If they can chop 10% off the production cost of a movie by shifting the location, it will save them millions of dollars. Through every day buying decisions, pressure for corporate profit and the feeling of entitlement for our high standard of living, we've basically asked them to continue the practice of shopping the global labor and materials marketplaces.

Are you prepared for french fries?

LOL

They buy even more if they are modeled on otherwise naked women. Helps us. You get lots of sales. You get your cabana boy, and he doesn't even have to waste time folding shirts. Am I a helpful problem solver, or what?

The Flip n Fold is probably cheaper. Cabana boys are probably expensive to maintain. Of course, you do work in a gear shop, so you might be able to work something out.

Bill, You have a point. It is like the Y2K scare. Many people said it was overblown hoopla, because lots of programmers spent insane hours remediating most of the problems. As far as PR, it is a no-win situation. If you fix the problem, you get accused of exaggerating it. If you don't, you get accused of recklessly ignoring it.

Quade, I half-seriously think that Rumsfeld, Ridge & Ashcroft were really just sitting in an office together playing with a Magic 8-Ball. Or maybe they just went out for Chinese food and got some whacky fortunes.

Vinny, Beyond what others have said, I have no practical suggestions. Thankfully, I have no personal experience in this area. In general, people won't change until they are ready to change. If pushed, they will only push away harder in response. That applies to everything. Drinking, smoking, obesity, whatever. Like Boss Paul said in Cool Hand Luke, "You got to get your mind right."

Nope. Nice pics, as expected. And you do seem to have the idea. Comment cheerfully withdrawn. Carry on, you monkey hug briber!

Viking, That is so wrong. If guys are giving out landscape prints as presents, they should be mountains, or mesas, or spires, or something. Valleys? Who spiked your soda with estrogen?

Forget Jessica, I'll take you on, buddy. I got $10 on you for this match, Skymama!

I'll handle the former; the latter is up to her.

Are you talking bets or strategically placed dollar bills?

I said "old", not "abominably ancient".

I must be getting old, because I totally don't get it.

I'm clueless about that too. It sounds like some teeny bopper thing. Almost as bad as the Powderpuff Girlz that Sunshine is always talking about.

I hope he has the courtesy to get all the various bodily function stains cleaned out before returning it. Otherwise you could be at risk for BSE, in addition to god-knows what else.

This is a situation where SDA, Betsy, etc. cannot "win". There is no way to please everyone. The best they can do is try to run a safe boogie that will be fun for the majority. I haven't been to SDA before, but from what I've heard, they are on track to accomplish that goal. No, everyone won't be thrilled by every decision. Stay home, or go and make the best of it. I'm not trying to be mean, and I hope you choose to attend. But with any big function, you have to acknowledge the limitations they are working under.