Newbie

Why? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I got to thinking about this post again. This time my thoughts turned to some posts that would most likely get me kicked off Then, after a little more thought I started feeling sorry for you I hope you spend all your time worring about what everyone else has that you don't. That is a sad way to spend ones life. But then I realized that this is a common lefty way of creating division I will pray that someday you grow up and worry more about what is really important instead of what others have that you don't. And, if you get your wish, and the price of gas doubles overnight. This great country of ours will, with createtivity and determination, find another way to stay great............and then you will have something else to worry about I will pray for you my friend.......... LOL! Man i didn't think starting such an inflammatory thread would lead to someone praying for me! Just so you don't spend too much time at the altar/bedside, the initial post as i summed up to lawrocket above, was not really serious. I do think you guys pay too much, would like to see the price go up, gradually, so people can adjust. However, the reasons for this are not because "you have it good and i don't" as people seem to be claiming. I just think large scale consumption of a precious and polluting material should come with a price that's fitting to it. Either that or LOWER gas prices in the US and just stop people driving cars that do any less than at least 25 mpg. Of course that won't happen, but merely illustrates that i don't care about how cheap it is there, it's really more about the fact that the consumption of it needs to be something more precious than my experience has lead me to believe exists for a large part. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

How much electricity can be produced from that? Like can it power a fridge constantly etc? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Absolutely. Take a look at this post from abotu 3 weeks ago. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1773183#1773183 Note that I spent about two sentences discussing my business and finances. Note that above all, I've discussed how great life is because of my son and my wife. Here's a quote - "And all I want to do on my time off is be a great father and husband." I believe I also mentioned in an earlier reply to you that I've got the greatest wife ever, which means you can never have it "as good as me." Neither can anybody else. The measure of my success is my wife and my son. I have the quality of life that will allow me to take off from work in one hour and got get my son so I can start our weekend of fun and excitement. My quality of life is no longer measured in jumps, humps and beer. I haven't jumped in over two years because there are so many other things that I'd rather do. Perhaps it's because I don't want my son growing up the way I did - a latchkey kid in public housing with severe ADHD and a drunk father. I don't think there's anyone who reads my posts regularly that doubts that my son is the most important thing in my life. Quality of life is measured by contentment. Oh, yeah, I've got that! In another 5 years I will have paid off all my student/business debt. Can you believe that things are actually looking to improve? In another year I'm gonna take him to his first Raider game. Maybe I'll even let him stab someone! Thanks man, i think i misjudged you somewhat and i apologise if i was off hand in any of my posts. The original post i put up was really only half serious too. As i stated in some of my other posts in this thread, i know that by producing a huge surge in gas there would cause widespread and damaging problems and i don't wish that on anyone. I also know the poor would suffer greatly because of their inability to react readily to a mass surge in price. Anyhoo, this has been a good thread for me, and taught me some things. I read that post you linked and it was really nice man. I'm like you - almost 30, living with the best wife in the world () and with both of us working more than full time jobs, it's still impossible for us to get a foot on the property ladder here in London, so i feel your excitement about being able to get your new place - i just wish i was able to do the same thing. PS I SERIOUSLY WISH THE PRICE OF CHEESE IN THE U.S. WOULD TRIPLE OVERNIGHT!! DO YOU GUYS NOT REALISE HOW CHEAP YOUR MOZZARELLA IS THERE?!?!?! LOL j/k folks "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

That's your own fault. Noone made you rack up $20 grand in credit card debt. I guessing you spent all that money you didn't have to "have it better". j I didn't spend $20k, that was lawrocket. That was me that put all that money on credit cards. That's why I put in my post that a couple of years ago I probably had it far worse than Newbie did. I knew I got myself into that trouble. In fact, I dug myself out of it and now have ZERO credit card debt. Zip. Zilch. Nada. It wouldn't have made me feel better to know that there are lots of others out there with $60k in credit cards. Heck, if I ran it up like that again, I'm not gonna say to my wife, "Honey, why are you sniveling? There are others who are far more irresponsible." That shit doesn't fly. What I do have now is a very up close and personal knowledge of how to fuck up. I saw it coming but did nothing to stop it, and it was up to me to make good. I'm so glad I didn't just declare bankruptcy. Now I do have it better. Do you use anything other than financial security and wealth to measure how good you have things? Just curious. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

That's your own fault. Noone made you rack up $20 grand in credit card debt. I guessing you spent all that money you didn't have to "have it better". j I didn't spend $20k, that was lawrocket. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

The war in Iraq stopped the flow of the money needed to bolster the levee's which burst. This was not new news. The hurricane is the not reason you are seeing the chaos in New Orleans, it's because the levee's could not contain the water's it produced which IS directly attributable to cuts in federal cut backs. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0831-04.htm "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Your prize is in the mail. Actually, we're pretty clear on the point. The point is that we, as Americans, should quit bitching because others have it worse. Our problem is that there are many of us out there who don't believe that bringing ourselves down to the levels of other people's miseries is an admirable thing. I mentioned in my first post a quote from one of Britain's leading politicians where he mentioned the griping of the Brits that theirs is not the greatest place on earth or the best it could be. As Americans, we are pretty Nationalistic. Part of what we do is that we want to be bigger, faster, stronger, badder, cheaper, cleaner and better than every place else. Just because some shithole on the other side of the world if suffering doesn't make us glad that we are. Just because another country in the world is suffering from a cholera outbreak doesn't mean that Brits don't have the right to complain about the taste of chlorine in their water. "Hey, the rest of the world would be happy with the taste of chlorine knowing that their water was treated." Tell me you guys wouldn't complain and snivel about disinfected water that doesn't taste good. Just because the rest of the world has it much worse doesn't make it a good thing to move in their direction, does it? What a great quote about the true nature of this! You agreed with it! You guys HATE the high fuel prices, don't you? If the price of fuel plummeted you'd be dancing in the streets! If you guys paid as much as we are paying right now you'd be loving it. Why would you love it? Because it would be a good thing - a great thing! Paying a lot for fuel is a bad thing, otherwise you would not celebrate it's demise. This leads us back to the conclusion where all reasonable inferences lead - "We fucking hate the price of fuel, and we think Americans should hate the price of fuel as much as we do." We Americans think differently, though. We are on the other side, which says, "We shouldn't pay out of our asses for fuel. We think it sucks that the Brits pay so much, too, and we hope that they can work it out among themselves to find a way to make it more affordable for everybody." When I was in England you guys were paying 3 pound 99 for a Whopper from Burger King, which is, what, 7 bucks out here? Fuck if I'm gonna pay that much for a burger. I'll pay $1.79 for a Whopper, but not 1 pound 79 for one. You all would love to pay the prices we pay for things. We Americans know this. Instead of trying to bring us down to a lower standard of living, why not bitch to your government that you don't have it as ood as we do. Then you can be up here with us, and we'll welcome you to the club!

Because some people have to find fault with everything and with everybody. It's how they survive in the world. It allows them to feel better about themselves by diverting from their own faults. Alternatively, there are those who think some people should be accountable for the cock up's, and want to find out why what happened did, and who ok'd it in the first place. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Your prize is in the mail. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

What do you think is going to happen to "those poor people" when the transport trucks - you know, the ones that bring the bread and milk to the stores? - can't run because the companies can't afford to buy fuel for them? Whoa, weird! Even though our petrol costs up to 3 times what it costs there, we still have milk and bread on our supermarket shelves. What the heck is that all about?! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

How clueless can you be. He just told you it wasn't going to affect him that much. Believe it or not, there are a great deal of people who aren't going to be affected much by rising gas prices. I know I'm not. You think an extra $10 or $20 per fill up means anything to those making well over 6 figures? The people you want to hurt with your little sandbox perspective are the poor. Get it yet? Oh i get it just fine thanks. But as long as those making over 6 figures are ok, who cares! Right? Apparently not you, based on your little wish to hurt the poor. I don't want to hurt the poor. The poor can't even afford a car in the first place. I would just like your average self centred American to stop whinging about paying "so much more for fuel". Get over it and stump up the change! Edited to add - just to clarify, i'm not saying your average American is self centred. In fact i find it to be the opposite from my experience. People always whine whenever they have to pay more for anything be it, milk, bread, meat or gas. Does that make them self-centered? Would you considerer skydivers who whine about increases in jump tickets self centered? More or less yes. Skydiving is a sport your CHOOSE to be in. We pollute the environment. We use up a scarce resource so we can do something pretty stupid but - as far as we are concerned - fun as hell. Should we be allowed to do this? Sure! Should we be entitled to whine when prices go up? Maybe initially but then it's time to pay up, move to another dz, or quit, but i don't want to hear whinging everytime the price of Jet A goes up. Skydiving is a choice, not a staple requirement. If milk and bread double in price overnight - staple foods that many people rely on to live or to maintain a balanced diet - i would be side by side with the whiners myself, protesting in the streets. What i can't stand is those people whining about the extra cost of gas because it will increase the cost of their trip to the dz/beach whatever! You have a car, you are more fortunate than those that don't, so stop whining for something that kills the planet and is still damn cheap anyway, is what i'm saying. I am obviously generalising very much in my "i hope the price of gas doubles" statement. I know this would affect the poor and those who have long commutes to work, and i wouldn;t wish that on anyone. But for those who are driving hummers and SUV's - those who have never cared about the true cost of owning a 9miles to the gallon car has for the rest of us - i have little to no sympathy to be honest. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Yep. The sooner people start taking responsibility for themselves, the better off they will be. EXACTLY! Those fools in New Orleans shouldn't be living a life of luxury like they obviously have! They should have all been pouring their $1000's which they have lying about all over the place and under the mattress, to amass the meagre sum of $30 million they needed to get the funding to ensure the levee would protect them How stupid can they be eh! Obviously if you go back and realize that by selectively cutting part of a sentence out, I was not responding to the entire post and kept my comments narrowed to a specific statement. Try re-reading it again. I know you will get it the second time. Besides that, you are the one who wants to devastate the poor even more by hoping they pay more for gasoline Didn't you cut what you wanted from the previous posters remarks yourself? Correct me if i'm wrong but you are saying the people of New Orleans are in the situation they are in because they relied on the government funding necessary to keep the levee from breaching, right? If that's wrong i apologise but that's what i took it to mean. Also why do you keep saying i want to harm the poor. I don't. I want your average 4.0 litre, Hummer or SUV driver to realise oil is no longer cheap. There is a difference but let's not skew this thread off on that tangent, we already have a thread going on for that discussion. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

How clueless can you be. He just told you it wasn't going to affect him that much. Believe it or not, there are a great deal of people who aren't going to be affected much by rising gas prices. I know I'm not. You think an extra $10 or $20 per fill up means anything to those making well over 6 figures? The people you want to hurt with your little sandbox perspective are the poor. Get it yet? Oh i get it just fine thanks. But as long as those making over 6 figures are ok, who cares! Right? Apparently not you, based on your little wish to hurt the poor. I don't want to hurt the poor. The poor can't even afford a car in the first place. I would just like your average self centred American to stop whinging about paying "so much more for fuel". Get over it and stump up the change! Edited to add - just to clarify, i'm not saying your average American is self centred. In fact i find it to be the opposite from my experience. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

How clueless can you be. He just told you it wasn't going to affect him that much. Believe it or not, there are a great deal of people who aren't going to be affected much by rising gas prices. I know I'm not. You think an extra $10 or $20 per fill up means anything to those making well over 6 figures? The people you want to hurt with your little sandbox perspective are the poor. Get it yet? Oh i get it just fine thanks. But as long as those making over 6 figures are ok, who cares! Right? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Yep. The sooner people start taking responsibility for themselves, the better off they will be. EXACTLY! Those fools in New Orleans shouldn't be living a life of luxury like they obviously have! They should have all been pouring their $1000's which they have lying about all over the place and under the mattress, to amass the meagre sum of $30 million they needed to get the funding to ensure the levee would protect them How stupid can they be eh! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I tend to do that, which is why I don't wear underwear. Bullshit. I've got it better than you. A couple of years ago, I was living in a one bedroom apartment with my wife and struggling to pay off $110k in student loans plus another 20k in credit cards. You had it better than me then. Fortunately for me, I made the sacrifices and now I've got a business and just bought my first house with my wife, having moved into it two months ago today. I keep four people employed and live a life that allows me to not have to put my one year old son in day care for 8-10 hours a day. Don't say your life is as good as mine. It isn't even close to as good as mine. I worked my fucking ass off to get my good life, and I work my ass off to keep it that way. See, instead of bitching and sniveling about how good others have it, I chose a different mindset - don't work at bringing them down, since it doesn't help me. Instead, I decided to make myself better. So I own a business, have a house, a great kid and a hot wife. You could have it as good as I do, as well. Well, not the wife part. I'm married to the greatest lady in the world. You'll never have it as good as I do, but you can get close. Why not? I paid for this leather backed armchair with my own hard-earned money. Again, do you hold it against me that I desire comfort? Should my office be furnished with cardboard boxes? Should my chair be wooden stool? After all, the rest of the world is on dirt floors, right? Well, I guess I just want something better. Rather than work to bring down all others who have nice shit, I figured I'd go out and get that nice shit myself. By the way - I grew up dirt poor. I paid for my own college. I paid for my own law school by taking out loans. Everything I've got I have fucking earned. I had nothing handed to me. "Ooh, boo hoo. I'm sorry for having ambition. I'm sorry for entering a career that allowed me to make money. I'm so sorry for employing four people and paying $23k per month in overhead. I'll never be ambitious again." You've got it wrong. I DO practice what I preach. And what I preach is to quit bitching about others who have it better and try to be like them. I'm not gonna sell my law firm (at least not anytime soon. Of course, if I can get a couple million for it tomorrow, I may reconsider. I'm not going into the education sector, either. I made my choice and I'll stick with it. However, that 50 hours of pro bono work I did last year should count for something. Ever reunite a father with the son he hasn't seen in 7 years? I have. I preach that you improve your lot in life by destroying others. If I'min the gutter, bringing other people down there with me still puts me in the gutter. In its essence, that's what you argue. I think it leads to overcrowding of gutters. Yep. In reality, bringing others down to a gutter doesn't bring the gutter dweller out of the gutter, which should be the ultimate goal. You aren't alone. I'm a dopey looking SOB with psychosocial issues and a high-pitched voice. There's plenty to laugh at. Swimming? Interesting choice of words. And since you've got so much reality to deal with, focus on your own instead of fantasizing about bringing the rest of the world down. I'd like to help, but I've got to make some more money. I've had my eyes on a leather sofa to match my armchair, and I need the money to buy it. haha ok whatever dude, i'm happy for you you have it so good and "way better than me" LOL. Probably a good job you worked so hard for yourself and have done so well - the extra cost of gas is going to cut a little deeper into your pockets "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Newbie, You do know who owns Al-Jazera,don't you? Blues, Cliff Nope, who? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Can you explain this? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4206708.stm "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Counselor: Nice rant? Heck, I can go back to the days highlighted in Dickens novels where the price of coal was too high to heat a squalid tenement. Seems that fuel costs were important 150 years ago, too. You'd think that the goals of a society would be to make products cheap, clean and efficient. Instead, we've got one of your countrymen arguing that it should be expensive in one place because it's expensive in another, as opposed to saying, "Hmmm. Maybe we can make this product cheap here." Am I wrong for thinking that the ultimate goal for a societally crucial product should be that it cheap, clean and readily available? Or should the ultimate goal of all societies be that fuels are prohibitively expensive? Newbie here says, "rich get richer" while failing to recognize that the rich aren't bothered by fuel costs. I wonder - if a gallon of gasoline was 59 cents over the last couple of years, would more of those people who were stuck in New Orleans without a vehicle have been able to afford cars, thus being able to get themselves the hell ouuta town? Does nobody else think that affordable gasoline means affordable transportation, which translates to an ability to get the hell outta Dodge City? Yeah, nice thought. I think I'll give an alternate title to Newbie's "dream." This post should have been entitled either, "Equal Misery for all the World" or "FUCK THE POOR!" After all, it's the poor who would suffer most from his utopic vision. And actuallyy, it was the poor who DID suffer the most. Sorry, how does the price of a gallon of gas make a $5/10/15/20,000 car affordable again? How does federal cutbacks on the New Orleans levee - when it has been proven it will be breached without the required funding - equate to me fucking over the poor? If you want to talk about fucking over the poor, i suggest you take a look in your own backyard, that's who is in control of your wagon, not little old me. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

How does that tie into a federal cut back in the spending on the levee's in New Orleans? I don't follow... "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Yeah, you'd like that, unless it was your china shop. The very fact that you would appreciate the misery of someone else like that strikes me as misanthrope at its finest. You'd descibe it as "fun to see." I find it striking that you find the thought of arbitrary distruction "fun." It's also indicative of your desire to laugh at everybody's misery but your own. No offense, you can think what you want. But I find that despicable. Take some time to smell what you're shoveling. If you really want to, I'm sure you can see a lot of it floating in a certain city that's been in the news. Until you decide that your country ought to live in the same misery as the rest of the world, maybe you and your government officials (It'd be amazing to read the vision of the Tories, since Cameron is a Conservative) oughtta quit talking about a government vision to be great and wonderful. Excuse me while I saw away at the world's smallest violin to the tune of, "My Heart Bleeds for You." Compared to the rest of the world, you've got it soft, buddy. LOL has someone got their knickers in a twist? You and i both have it equally as good as one another. Don't preach to me about needing to taste the hard life from the cosy confines of your leather backed lawyers armchair. If you want to practice what you preach, why not sell up your law firm, and come and go work in the education sector in one of the most deprived areas of your country with 5th and 10th graders, like i do over here. You talk to me about needing a dose of reality? I laugh at you and say i'm swimming it in just plenty over here thanks, but if you want to help out, i would welcome the offer. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Well if they knew about it for 30 years, yet chose to cut funding to the one thing that would have prevented such a calamity being so serious (i.e. the necessary funding for the levee's to stop them breaching) do you think that was a wise decision? The Department for Homeland Security has failed to secure the Homeland - one of the mainstays of their role. Too much money being spent on war, not enough on actually protecting those people at home. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Yeah. I wonder how many Americans would welcome an increase in government taxation on petrol pump gas, in order to make household fuel supply cheaper though. That just won't happen. The rich get richer the poor get poorer, it's the American dream dude, don't you get it? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I know my hypothetical dramatic gas price rise dream is flawed. It would at best probably lead to a severe and widely damaging economic downturn in the world economy, which i wouldn't wish on anyone. Although, at the time, it would be fun to see, almost like staring in awe at a bull going berserck in a china shop and standing there filming the whole mess for posterity. It doesn't mean i can't dream everytime i read a post on here about how much gas costs now over there now, and how bad it is when, frankly, it's still ridiculously cheap. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts