masterblaster72

True, pretty much any of the European teams (with the exception of Switzerland) can really shake things up. I think Czech Republic and Ukraine especially are two teams to watch out for. S. Korea always puts up a good fight too and who knows, maybe they'll make the quarter finals legitimately this time around... Most, but not Rooney. And Owen isn't what he used to be, nor is Beckham. I can appreciate your optimism, but England doesn't stand a chance against teams like Brazil and Argentina . I think you would need that 1966 home turf again, and though Sven is a great coach, he can only do so much with what he's got. But who knows, anything can happen. That's what's so fun about the WC...

Moggi is going to get his, and Lippi has been cleared to go on coaching the team and all the scandal is behind them now. And besides, the last time the Italian team was rocked with scandal was in 1982, when Paolo Rossi just got out of jail in time for the Cup. Italy then went on to shut down Argentina, Brazil and Germany to win it all. Without some element of corruption, Italy is not itself and will go nowhere. This year, we got it goin' on BIG TIME, baby. Watch out, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France...

Need I remind you of an exhibition match your team lost 4-1 in recently? FORZA ITALIA!!!!!!

Wow, reading this is especially sad for me, and I know what you're going through. My maternal grandmother died as a result of a hospital error in Italy almost 20 years ago. I don't think your grandmother will see the same fate though and I think there's plenty of hope for her situation. If I were you I would take the trip to Ontario -- think of how happy that would make her. I wish you and your grandmother all the best.

Good luck -- in the Balkans, compromise is a foreign concept. Shropshire - Turkey is going to have to do a whole lot more than just stop pissing off the Greeks to join the EU. For starters, they need to thoroughly clean up their abysmal human rights record. Not to mention that they should acknowledge (or at least apologize for their previous denials of) the Armenian genocide. Those items are just for starters...present-day Turkey has *no* business being in the EU, IMHO. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I know...I got them from a lame site. Just corrected them

Ever hear The Gnome? It's a song about a gnome named "Crimble Cromble" Like that bizarre song "Bike" you quoted, this one's from the Syd Barrett days (their best days, IMO) As an aside, anyone here ever listen to Syd Barrett's solo albums? They're great...once Roger Waters took over the lyric writing, they got *really* depressing.... edited to add: do you know what's up with the end of that "Bike" song? One of the most bizarre endings to a song that I ever heard...doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the song. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

That's my beef with a lot of them, especially in Central Park, where runners and cyclists have an uneasy relationship. I don't expect a greeting from them as you do (that may be the norm where you're at, but not in NYC), but a lot of cyclists act as if they own the road, and bark loudly and rudely at people who are remotely in their way, when they can just simply make a mild turn to avoid collisions way ahead of time. I think many of them do it for the sake of being d.cks, knowing they can get away with it since they're going 3x as fast as any runners are. Their ultra-shrill and loud voices are quite irritating too. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I have a noisy neighbor myself. It sucks. You should introduce yourself first, *nicely*, and welcome them to the building. Then explain to them that they wouldn't believe how paper thin the ceilings are and invite them for a beer to your place to see how loud it really is. Then maybe they'll get the idea, especially if you make it clear to them that your intentions are good and that you want to be a good neighbor. You can then suggest that they walk around their apt. without shoes, put a carpet down, or at the very least be more mindful of how loud their walking is and tread more lightly. Now being that you're preoccupied with them being gay, I'm not sure if you're even capable of doing what I stated above. It sounds to me like the fundamental problem is the noise. The rant about them being gay just makes you look kind of stupid; if you left that out you could have gotten much better advice by now. Good luck. edited to add: Just like girlfalldown said above, better now than later. This is the kind of problem you need to nip in the bud quickly or else they will get used to doing what they do and it will be harder to ask them to change what they're doing down the road. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

It was a fun day, glad I came out. Even with the shifty weather and 100+ tandems, I got on pretty much every load I wanted to get on, and finding people to jump with was very easy. Good job organizing too -- getting all of those tandems in was a tremendous feat considering how tough the weather was. And I hope Mike got in his 21 jumps. Beautiful place to jump, and lots of nice people too. See you again soon, and thanks Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

Last year I went to Crazy Fly Nettuno, which is about 1.5 hours from Rome and a beautiful drive. It was closed that day and I couldn't jump, so I recommend calling them before making the trip. There's also Aero Club Latina, which is about 65km south of Rome. Keep in mind that both of these places are weekend-only operations. And I'm not sure if they're open in January, so you might want to email or give them a call. If you want to jump on weekdays, you can check out Skydive Tortuga in Arezzo, which is about 3 hours from Rome. They're a full-time dropzone and I'm pretty sure that they're open throughout the year. Enjoy...

Right on -- I'll see you there in the morning. I've heard good things about Sussex and have been looking for a good reason to get out there. What better reason than the Skyvan! If anyone wants a ride from Manhattan, feel free to PM me -- I will be renting a car at 7am. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I grew up with Nutella, and got a lot of crap for it in the cafeteria b/c I was the weird kid eating chocolate sandwiches. I didn't much give a damn about what the other kids thought about it, and it's a trip because now they know what they've been missing all these years :) I've been known to down entire jars of Nutella in a sitting, it really is G-d's gift to the world. I think Pat Robertson should try some, maybe it would mellow him out a bit. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

It was Vietnam for me too, back in 2002. Went all over the country -- Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hoi An, MySon, Saigon, Mekong Delta, MyTho, etc...what a great country, eh? I'd go back there in a heartbeat, may actually do so next year. Went to Taiwan after that for a few days, another nice country with beautiful scenery, nice people and delicious food. Other good vacations were Italy (twice) last year for cousin's weddings, and I also went to Iceland for the weekend a couple weeks back. Traveling rocks. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding And She Was by the Talking Heads is a close second I love karaoke....wish I knew more people that like it as much as I do edited to add: Volare by Gypsy Kings, also one of my favorites and a lot of fun to sing, give it a shot if you ever see it on a song list. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

Shin splints are one of the worst injuries you can get as a runner. They suck the big one. I made the mistake of trying to run through shin splints and ended up putting myself out for two months a couple of years back. Shin splints are no joke. It probably won't lead to a stress fracture, but you should treat the problem as if it could. I don't know your build or your bone density, but those are factors that determine how much worse the injury can get. Beware of anyone who tells you to switch up your foot strike. This is awful advice. Running with a toe-first strike works for sprinting, but if you're doing any kind of distance or even a jog, striking toe-first puts more tension on your shins. So the point is -- don't change your foot strike; do what feels natural. Instead, look into orthotics. It's worked wonders for me in regard to this injury. Good, very good. I also recommend anti-inflammatories, they thin out the blood and aid in healing trouble spots in the body. But take them only if your stomach can handle them. And definitely do not drink for hours before/after taking them or you can end up with ulcers like I did last year. That led to internal bleeding that I didn't even know I had, lower hemoglobin, and shitty performance. So be careful with the anti-inflammatories if you do take them. Yes, stand on the edge of a step with your toes and move your feet up and down, but don't overdo it or you'll end up with sore muscles the next day -- ease into this exercise. It strengthens your anterior shin muscles, which are not worked in running. Makes for better muscle balance and will prevent future injury. As far as stretches go, do a regular calf stretch, but move the ball of your foot side to side, works the peripheral parts of your calf muscles. I know exactly how you feel. Unfortunately, you'll have to stop running. If you do continue, I wish you tons of luck in running through them. Chances are you won't. And the stress fracture risk is *not* something to take lightly. A stress fracture can result from running through shin splints. And a stress fracture will put you out for at least four months. Think about how badly that would suck. The same attitude ended up putting me out for two months and in spinning classes for most of the summer of 2004 after I ran Boston and didn't recover enough. I made the same mistake again this year, and I haven't run in two weeks because the course ripped up my quads, and I just didn't put aside enough time to recover. I'm still paying for it. But at least it's my quads, not my shins, and it's only a couple of weeks. I recommend cross-training. Find a good spinning class if you can. Spinning will kick your ass and keep your body in shape for when you hit the road again. Part of being a good runner is knowing when *not* to run, just like skydiving. Finally, check out the forums on http://coolrunning.com, specifically the "med tent" forum. You should find some helpful advice there. Good luck, get better and happy running. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

Good luck in the search, and in the meatime, jump yer ass off! Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

How about a dropzone.COM/high school conversion table? I see tons of parallels here with HS...cliques, popularity contests, bullies, skygod jocks, ass-kissing cheerleaders, etc...I'd give it a shot myself but I'd rather defer to your wisdom. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

Nice to see the Gulf Stream is still alive and well... Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

Thanks for the answers y'all, very helpful. Looks like I have a lot of jumping to do before I can make something like this happen. Much appreciated. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I've eaten all three. Alligator and frog do taste similar to chicken, though the texture is a bit more rubbery and less like a meat like chicken is. Snake is a bit different, chewier and less flavorful. It's also a pain in the ass because it's mostly bone and it takes quite a bit of work to get the meat off the vertebrae. Snake was probably the most interesting meal of the three since I had it killed in front of me and was served the blood, gall bladder and beating heart in a flask of rice wine before they cooked it in four different ways (this was in Vietnam). Of these three I much prefer frog legs because they're meatier have the most flavor. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

How about cooking for her? My father and I are cooking my mother rack of lamb, homemade fettucine with porcini mushrooms, and broccoli rabe with steamed dandelions that we went out and foraged ourselves yesterday, three of her favorite dishes. We're also opening a bottle of 20-year old wine. Should be a great meal

Subject line shortened by slotperfect I have this idea of skydiving over a park near my parent's house in suburban Philadelphia, just a one-time thing. What would be involved in being able to do the jump legitimately, if it is possible to do this jump legitimately at all? If I find an aviator who is willing to take me on a flight in a Cessna and drop me off, would I need a special license to do this kind of jump? Right now I only have an A license. My assumption is that I would need to get approval from the FAA and the local township as well. I think getting approval from the township would be a longshot since this is a residential area, though I think it may be possible because I remember seeing a parachutist in the air a few years ago in Bryn Mawr, PA, a town nearby (and there's no dropzone anywhere around this way, so it wasn't someone who had a bad spot)... I would hope to do the jump in the very early hours of the morning, right around sunrise so that pretty much no one is around; I would *not* want the jump to get attention from any of the locals here. And in case you're on a launching pad to flame me for asking this question -- my intentions are good, and if there's something obviously wrong with this scenario that I'm completely missing, I apologize for the ignorance; I'm here to learn. I have not been in this sport for long and there's a lot I don't know, which is why I'm posting this question here. I also did a search on this subject, but found no results. Thank you... Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I suggest Living Fuel -- has the protein to carb ratio you're looking for, plus pretty much every nutrient you're going to need (minus calcium and iron) -- a great meal replacement. Only drawback is that it's a bit gritty, but once you get used to that, you'll like it. Be humble, ask questions, listen, learn, follow the golden rule, talk when necessary, and know when to shut the fuck up.

I suppose it's no coincidence that mammatus resembles "mammary" then, eh?