wolfriverjoe

Yes, THAT is the issue. I was specifically addressing a specific point you made. And I don't see it as either narrow or irrelevant. But to address your larger point, it will soon be a corporations vs lobbying organization vs grassroots battle. Kind of like the insurance companies vs AARP vs (whatever grassroots oganization is lobbying on healthcare). And throw in corp vs corp (insurance vs doctors). It will change the dynamic of some of the debates, but Rupert Murdoch and George Soros already have a big say in US politics. And won't the "equal access" rules prevent monopolization? Not that it will be equal or even fair, but opposing voices will speak (whether or not anyone will listen is a good question) And competing candidates will (hopefully) be able to say "My candidate is being supported by XXX corp. They are controlled by YYY, who has an agenda of ZZZ" (just off the top of my head throw in Citgo and Hugo Chavez for X and Y). Lobbying groups such as AARP, NRA, Sierra Club ect. will be able to challenge any claims made by the corporations. While it will have it's problems, I see the openness of the free speech outweighing the problems of who is doing the speaking as long as the ones doing the speaking have to admit who they are. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, if your hair is the way it usually is, and you wear clothes that show of the best of your ink, then why would he have any problem? OTOH, if she has told him you have a solid, good paying job, and make enough to be able to take next year off (if things go the way you want) then he may look beyond the surface and wish you well. And 400km is not anywhere near far enough to get into the middle of nowhere. That's barely in from the edge of nowhere. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Really? Tell the NRA that. They have been screaming about McCain/Feingold since it passed. The restriction that only allowed media to report on candidates was one of their biggest complaints - They had a lot of stats that showed a strong "guns are bad" bias in major media reporting (yes, even on Fox). I know it is more of a "if it bleeds it leads" thing, but the numbers are a bit disturbing. They told all the members that they were unable to run ads for or against candidates. NRA Website And yes, the NRA is a corporation, and a lobbying organization. Although one of it's biggest operations is training. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

How about Carrie Fischer as Princess Leia? Although Star Wars had some very basic premises and characters, she was not your typical "damsel in distress". And Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala. She was really hot in the final battle scene in Phantom Menace, and in the "Gladiator" scene in Attack of the Clones. Yes, the movies were far from great, but she was (again) far from the typical damsel in distress character. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Very nice!

Caption on the bottom pic: "Invasion of the flying squirrels" "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I'm gonna agree wholeheartedly with this. The Jets are doing great, but the Colts are just too good. I don't think Farve and the Vikings are going to be able to handle the Saints in their own dome. The Vikings have had that advantage at home, but Farve always had trouble there as a Packer. And look at how out of sorts the Cowboys were last week. It was great to hear (I was working and had to listen to it on radio) Romo and the Cowboys get clobbered. I only wish it had been by someone else On another note: it was funny as all hell to hear Cowboys fans bitch about "running up the score". If you don't want the score run up, don't let them score that much. Anybody else remember when the Cowboys ran the score up on the Packers? Something like 50+ points. They were going for the record for field goals in the game and the Packers just couldn't stop them. Some of the Packers fans bitched and the Cowboys fans basically said SUICC "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Me too. I picked answer #2. 2 Pilot rigs at my DZ. Both rounds. I mentioned this in another thread recently - One of the riggers in this area (Northeast Wisconsin, near Green Bay and Oshkosh) does more pilot bailout rounds than sport squares. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

My dog (see avatar pic) is named Skyler. There is a waitress (a really cute little blonde) at a local reataruant named Skyler. Both with an "e". I have yet to tell the waitress that she shares her name with my dog. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

True story: a Marine recruiter got a hold of the name of my then 19-yo cat, Monty, a few years back. Kept leaving messages and sending materials. While Monty did have many of the qualities associated with Marines: loyalty, lack of fear and calm responses when confronted by forces much bigger than him (like a 150-lb Caucasian Ovcharka dog), and stubbornness/tenacity, he probably would have had difficulty with the opposable thumb requirements for fulfilling the marksmanship qualification. /Marg I would think at that age, meeting the PT requirements would be a problem too. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Yeah, I've had a couple weekends that were perfect jumping weather, but I was the only available pilot Unfortunately, if I'm flying the plane, I can only jump once "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

It's also only a matter of time before the other slimeballs come crawling out from under their rocks and set up "charity" organizations that spend 90%+ on admin and fundraising. My standard question when a telemarketer calls for a charity is to ask "What percentage actually goes to the cause and what percentage goes for admin and fundraising?" Places like "Kidwish", "The American Cancer Fund" or others that sound like legit organizations often say 80%-90% for expenses. I usually then ask a really uncomfortable question. Like "Do you think I'm going to give you money to annoy other people?" or "How do you sleep at night knowing you are taking money from legit charities?" "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, the intended use defines what characteristics are needed or desired, and that determines what type of equipment is going to be selected. If you want a more specific answer, please ask a more specific question. The Skydiver's Handbook probably can answer many of your questions "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

And even further, a cat was summoned to jury duty. He needed a letter from his vet to get excused "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Where do you see prices on that site? I looked around and couldn't find them. Guessing starting around $50k or so. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I see that the speech is not constitutionally protected. I don't see (although I realize that it is a very small part of a larger whole) where violent retaliation is permitted. I think that a cop could issue a disorderly conduct citation to the guy with the big mouth, and his "fighting words" could be prosecuted. Free speech would not be a valid defense. But popping the dude in the mouth for uttering "fighting words" could still be assault, if there was not a credible, immediate, serious threat of attack. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Are you asking if a person can do this and still tell themselves they have the higher moral ground? Or are you asking if there is a way for you to behave and maintain the higher moral ground. For the first one, yes. People can rationalize the most outrageous behavior telling themselves that they are better than someone else. Either "They deserved it" or "I'm a good person otherwise so this is ok" work for most stuff. The second one is a bit more difficult. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Just out of curiosity, where do you hang out that it is "socially acceptable" to "pop another guy in the jaw" for "talking smack" or "talking shit"? With very rare exception, I know of no public places (open to and frequented by the general public) that you wouldn't get tossed out of and/or have the cops called on you. It's usually considered disorderly conduct, but can be classed as assault (or assault and battery). "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Yes. Yellowstone. Three times in the past couple million years. The last one, 640,000 years ago put out 8000 times as much ash and dust as Mt St Helens in 1980. They've found fossils in Nebraska that had strong indications that the deaths were caused by the volcano. It would be very bad if it blew again. Discovery did a show on it about a year ago. Discovery Channel If you read the link to page three, they talk about Toba, Indonesia 74,000 years ago. Global cooling (nuclear winter scenario) nearly killed off early humans. Tambora, Indonesia probably caused the "Year without a Spring" in 1816. Lots of starvation due to crop failures because of the cold. Snow in July in New England (in the US). We haven't seen an eruption like it since. Fortunately they are pretty rare, and give a fair amount of warning. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

You jump out of fucking planes. Wear women's underwear if you want to. We don't care and you'll still have more cool points than the whuffo's watching football at home on Sundays. Wow. Just wow. Quote of the year. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Sorry to hear it. Too many people think they are the only ones dealing with that problem, that no one will understand, that no one cares. And they have no idea how much everyone left behind is hurt. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Summerfest is great. New, experienced, young, old, (well, maybe not 'Twardo), freefly, bellyfly everything. Even a Mr Potatohead. Not sure of the dates, but I think end of July, 2 weekends and the week between. Just don't put your tent under any trees. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

How about Egypt? Seems to have worked so far (30+ years). "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Okay, I misread the OP and thought "Quake" not anything else. A real (complete) coverup probably wouldn't happen. There's no way a secret of that magntiude could be kept. There's a chance it would be dismissed as a lunatic fringe conspiracy theory for a while, but I'd still bet the truth would come out in the end (in time? good question). Take the asteroid you linked. It would be nice to think that the gov't would take the proper action, develop a space vehicle that would move it to a safe orbit (easy if done right away, harder and harder as it gets closer). In fact, Russia is doing just that. But my faith in gov't makes me believe that they'd wait until it was too late. Then they'd go into panic mode. The smart folks would evacuate weeks or months ahead of time, but there would be a lot who wouldn't (or to a certain degree couldn't). Total chaos in the evac zone, getting worse until the end. And of course there would be those who wouldn't believe it was real and would refuse to leave, and then scream loudest for rescue afterwards (if they managed to survive - there would be survivors) I tend to be a little cynical about this, but after seeing hurricanes hit the southeast coasts for my entire life, I don't have a lot of faith in human nature. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Need more specifics. How tight of a timeframe - within a day, week, month or...? How tight of an area - West Coast, SoCal, LA Basin, Pamona? How solid of a predicition - 100%? less? Because they say there is a good chance of a serious quake on the west coast within the next 10-15 years. They are doing a lot of "Quake-proofing" out there too. Although most of it is in reaction to damage from previous quakes, knowing that more are inevitable. The problem is the reliabilty of the prediction. Look at the Gulf/East coast and hurricanes. A lot of people don't evacuate because they don't believe they are going to get hit or how bad the storm will be. And the predictions are wrong just enough for people to justify that behavior. In reality, a 20 minute warning would be enough for the vast majority of the people to reach a place of safety and to shut off electricity and gas (natural and liquid) pipelines. Although the damage would still happen, the injuries and the worst of the "after damage" from fires would be prevented. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo