peacefuljeffrey

Do you feel the same way if they consistently win by such small margins? Blues, Dave If two guys were to race and one always won by that same few thousandths of a second, I'd say that he and the other guy are still just about evenly matched. We're talking about a difference that you cannot really discern, unless the speeds of the travelers involved are pretty high. Two planes in an air race doing 250mph can have a serious distance between each other and still be separated by a small fraction of a second. It's not the same as with people running/swimming at "human speeds." -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Sad to read about. The pilot was only 31 years old! Blue skies forever, fly-dude! Um, what does "BSBD" mean? -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I wouldn't be surprised. I went flying tonight, to re-establish "night currency," and when I was on the phone with Miami Flight Service to get the NOTAMs for Lantana, the guy reminded me that Saturday had TFRs all over the friggin' place (my words, not his) and I thanked him and said I was aware, and that was why I was flying on Friday! It's fucked up, but yeah, every pilot's expected to be aware of the things. If you call 1-800-WX-BRIEF you can ask the flight service technician you speak with about TFRs (Temporary Flight Restrictions) related to the president's travels that might affect you. -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

What songs do you think people would have been using for videos, if the "tandem age" had blossomed in the 1970s instead of so much more recently? What songs lend themselves to the same sort of thing, but were around in the '70s? What songs do you think people would have thought worked well for videos in that period? To get things rolling, I'm thinking they could have used, "Stayin' Alive," from Saturday Night Fever... Remember, don't be afraid to "go corny," but please offer songs that people actually might have used. Blue skies, -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

DEFINE NORMAL I have a T-Shirt and the Sweatshirt that I freefly in that says that right above my boobies..... Hmm... That can be taken two ways. 1) "Explain to me what 'Normal' is." 2) "Be the epitome of 'Normal.' " Sort of like one of my other favorite double entendres: "No government is better than our government." -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Agreed about the asshole part... but why the fuck would we collect money to deport a piece of shit who probably has more money than all of the people on this forum combined? -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Every bit as disgusted and angry. It wasn't that long ago that I did not have to feel like a criminal, even though I regularly traveled with a Spyderco Delica sharpened like a straight razor, in my back pocket. Now to even suggest doing that makes people look at you like you're a psychotic waiting to explode. The ol', "Why on earth do you need a KNIFE" horrified response, as though having and using a knife as a normal human being is an unfathomable concept. Things are well and truly fucked up. -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

You're kidding, right? Hypothetical questions are pointless and moot always, just by virtue of being hypothetical questions? Let's say I asked you a question, and you thought it was moot... -Jeffrey P.S. Many hypothetical questions relate to things that would not likely ever happen. Sometimes they are still interesting for discussions. What's the problem with doing so? -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I definitely want to have him executed. I don't care one way or another whether I get to watch. Actually I'd rather not. Told you folks already I don't groove on watching death. Never heard of "delectation," though. Is that a real word? -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Who else here memorizes poems they like? I have to admit, it's weird after looking at my typing of "The Raven" and seeing how long it is, that I do have it memorized. I just lay in bed one night with the book in front of me, and stanza by stanza, I kept repeating it, and going back over it again and again, until I knew it all. I've done the same with a couple of Dr. Seuss and Robert Frost poems, too, like "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening," and "The Road Not Taken." Frost is excellent, and so is Edwin Arlington Robinson. -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

When we learned it in high school, I hated it, but I came later on (well after college) to love Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven". It is masterful in its construction. I think I love it most in a technical sense. I'm also crazy about the meter and rhythm of his "Annabel Lee." The Raven Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. " 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door -- Only this and nothing more." Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow; -- vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow -- sorrow for the lost Lenore -- For the rare and radiant maiden whome the angels name Lenore -- Nameless here for evermore. And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain Thrilled me -- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before; So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating " 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -- This it is and nothing more." Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer, "Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping, And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door, That I scarce was sure I heard you," here I opened wide the door; -- Darkness there, and nothing more. Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before; But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!" -- Merely this, and nothing more. Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, Soon I heard again a tapping somewhat louder than before. "Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice; Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -- Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -- 'Tis the wind and nothing more!" Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore; Noth the least obeisance made he; not an instant stopped or stayed he; But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -- Perched upon a bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door -- Perched, and sat, and nothing more. Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore, "Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven, Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore -- Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, Though its answer little meaning -- little relevancy bore, For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -- Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such name as "Nevermore." But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. Nother farther then he uttered -- not a feather then he fluttered -- Till I scarcely more than muttered "Other friends have flown before-- On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before." Then the bird said "Nevermore." Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, "Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -- Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore Of 'Never -- nevermore.' " But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling, Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door; Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -- What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore Meant in croaking "Nevermore." This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing To the fowl whose fiery eyes not burned into my bosom's core; This and more I sat divinging, with my head at ease reclining On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er, But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er, She shall press, ah, nevermore! Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer, Swung by angels whose faint footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor. "Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee -- by these angels he hath sent thee Respite -- respite and nepenthe from they memories of Lenore! Quaff, of quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!" Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! -- prophet still, if bird or devil! -- Whether Tempter sent or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore, Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted-- On this home by horror haunted -- tell me, truly, I implore -- Is there -- is there balm in Gilead? -- tell me -- tell me, I implore!" Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." "Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil! -- prophet still, if bird or devil! By that heaven that bends above us -- by that God we both adore -- Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore -- Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whome the angels name Lenore." Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! Leave my loneliness unbroken! -- quit the bust above my door! Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!" Quoth the raven, "Nevermore." And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted -- nevermore! Pretty good, huh? Okay... I want you to read, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" -- you're gonna like it -- it's about a schoolteacher who gets chased by a headless demon! (Okay, that last part is a quote from a movie in which the character had just finished reciting "The Raven"! Can you name the movie?) Blue skies, -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Thanks!

Oh god, I'm sorry to read that. I hope he makes it through with a full recovery. That sounds nasty. Try to be a good strong support for him. I take it he's gonna need physical therapy and that won't be easy. -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Two questions: - Did you post this to show how mean and bad those people who are associated with the Republican party are? and - Do you think that this kind of thing has been done, around the country, only by Republican-types? -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I chose not to watch any of those beheadings for a while, and then just randomly decided to watch one after a number of them had occurred. This one was one of the Nepalese workers who were abducted, like 12 altogether? They shot some of them, and the video showed that and the beheading of another one, who was lying on his back with his hands bound behind him. It was disturbing, yes. I didn't enjoy it -- had not expected to. It was something I think I subconsciously was forcing myself to watch, because I think that until you understand death, or at least come to a point of acquaintanceship/acceptance of it, you have not fully lived. This is a reality we will all have to face. Many of our deaths will be either less, or more, hideous and painful than theirs were. But I don't believe in hiding from death, that's the main thing, and it's why I watched that one video. It did not make me go out and seek the others. I haven't and probably won't. But it did make a rather strong impression on me, and filled me with disgust at the people who do this kind of thing. And I definitely draw a strong distinction between them and "us," because when we do kill, we don't do it out of spite, malice, or a wish to terrorize. We kill when we must, not when it suits our goals. Some may disagree with that all they want, and claim that we're imperialist pigs or whatever, but you won't likely convince me, because if the U.S. were truly out to conquer the world, we'd have been doing it already, and we'd have a lot more real estate than we have now, and we'd have colonies springing up all over the place. We may go to unstable parts of the world and try to give things a push in the right direction, but when we do that, the direction we push in is toward "our kind" of FREEDOM, with democratically elected representatives, and the prosperity that comes from joining up with the rest of the world in a devopmental sense. We don't go into other countries and put them under a yoke. -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Look, I thought I made it pretty clear that it was a *hypothetical* question... No one is going to hold people to their answers, or force them to account for them. I just couldn't help but think that the notion of televising such a thing as this kind of fits with the nation's mentality, to some degree. We have been subject to all this "reality t.v." nonsense, to the point where people seem to care more about who Donald Trump is going to "fire" than they do about their own lives. I took a moment to consider people's reaction to the idea of the President, "representing America," (I know that'll get 'em hoppin'!) executing America's biggest, most hated enemy personally. I was thinking of it in a sort of Andy-Warhol-ish way, like a study of pop culture and fascination with the macabre/morbid. Like those websites with the pictures of dead people from murders and accidents and such. I never said that a purpose would be served. But Wendy, since you asked what would it benefit, I ask you, what does watching "Everybody Loves Raymond" benefit a person? Nothing. Still, millions of people do it. So obviously, "Whom would it help?" is not a standard to which we hold our television viewing practices. -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I guess you regard certain thoughts as "dangerous," huh? Do you ever get an itch to try to "control" or "eliminate" those thoughts from others' minds? Or are you accepting of the fact that not everyone thinks as you do? What's wrong with asking a hypothetical question? Your response is seriously fucked up in the sense of being realllly judgmental. Are you better than those who gave the "fucked up" responses? Are you better than me, since I asked the "fucked up" question? I'm glad I'm not someone who gets scared by scary things being asked hypothetically. I surely am. I'm glad I dare to cross the "normal" lines of thinking. -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

This post pretty much mirrors my thoughts. I'm a lifelong never-smoker (pot, cigs, anything), but I do not like the government prosecuting victimless "crimes" (and don't give me the bullshit about how society's productivity is the "victim." If I decided to be a total bum, contributing nothing, that's my prerogative and my right. So if a person is NOT utterly useless, but smokes some now and then, you can't bitch that they lose a bit of their edge or their productivity.) I've never smoked pot and plan never to, but I think people should be allowed to -- with the same restrictions against doing certain things under the influence that we already have with alcohol. If we accept alcohol use because we set down ground rules, why can't we do the same with pot?? -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I wonder what the law is, because there are times when certain stores actually post "NO RETURNS -- NO EXCEPTIONS. ALL SALES FINAL." I've seen it. I am under the impression that if the business makes clear that their policy is "no returns," that they are entitled to have such a policy. Stores have told me that I was not allowed to shop there barefoot -- even though I know there's no law that says so. So I know that stores can set their own policies about who they serve. If you wanted to run a business and not make much money, you could even say, "No patrons who don't have green hair will be served." So if they wanted to scare away business by making it known that they won't do the courtesy of making returns, I think they're entitled, as long as it's publicized. Anyone here know otherwise? -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Are you saying this as a statement about the current practical reality, or are you saying it that you believe a person need not worry about anything they promise if they do it verbally as opposed to in writing? Do you mean that someone is wrong to expect a verbal word to be kept? -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Exactly. One does not have to say "I give you my word," for it to be meant. An assurance is an assurance. The shop guy made a promise, and he failed to live up to it. He let someone rely on his promise; that person may have ended up being totally inconvenienced in some way (like maybe planning a long trip in the truck for the weekend, including hotel or airfare bookings that will cost dearly to cancel) by his failure to deliver on the promise. I can see being upset by it, and as far as the shop guy is concerned, the only way to regain credibility is to explain why the failure occurred -- if there was a good reason for the failure. "My parts supplier's wife was in a bad car wreck and he spent the entire week at her bedside, and I was unable to get the parts for your repair." Possibly good enough. "My wife was in a horrible car wreck and I haven't been around since I've been at her bedside all week" -- better excuse still. Sometimes shit happens, even despite the best intentions, even despite the mechanic truly thinking he'd have the work done by a certain deadline. If one gives his word (again, one need not use those words to be "giving his word") he'd better be prepared to lose credibility if he does not keep it. There are always alternatives to phrasing something as though you are giving your word. The mechanic could have said, "I'll try to have it ready by Friday." "Well, I'll give you a call; we may be able to get it done by Friday." As soon as you say, "I will," or use the term, "at the latest," you are making a promise to meet a deadline. Miss it, and the guy you screwed will be justified in being pissed off at your unreliability. Me, if I didn't get a satisfactory explanation of why the word was not kept, I would not do business with the guy again and I would tell him why before I left. Perhaps some good would be done because he might take the lesson to heart and make sure to keep his word to future customers. -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I already posted a thread about my first cutaway from a malfunctioning main (happened Sunday 10/10/04). I didn't get super scared by it; it was one of those, "Okay, ya gotta do this so ya gotta do it" things, not really a big deal. I recognized a problem, made the decision, cut and pulled, and all worked out fine, including retrieving the main and the freebag, even standing up the landing under my Raven 181-M.

I was thinking, because something reminded me of record television viewing audiences, about something hypothetical. Let's say, hypothetically, that we captured Osama Bin Laden. And George W. Bush said that he would, on live international television, personally use a large knife to sever the head of this monster, in the same way as the Iraqi insurgents have been doing to abductees. Do you think that this televised event would attract the largest-ever television audience for any single broadcast? (I don't know what currently holds the record -- help please if you do.) Would you watch this happen, if it really did? -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

It's nice when you set the cutoff date AFTER WWII, so that we can't point out that Germans, Italians and Japanese killed MILLIONS MORE THAN WE EVER HAVE. After all, they did it before and during WWII, not "since WWII." -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

There is no emoticon which expresses how horrified I am by this Besides, really, it's not like it's hard to use... I guess when ya got it, ya got it, and it's hard to imagine the troubles of those who don't have it. -Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"