narcimund

I'm sorry for attributing the numbers to you, Goose. In the midst of all this I crossed my responses to cgross and goose491. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I used some searching skills to thoroughly freak out someone I was chatting IRC with once. He was new to the internet and overconfident about his anonymity. Through a series of deductions, web searches, and guesses, I was able to track down his current location to one of two rooms in a state 2000 miles from me. I flipped a coin and told him (about three minutes into the conversation,) you're in Room 201 in the Such-and-so building just past the Student Union at the University of Whatever. He immediately logged off IRC and so far as I know never came back! First Class Citizen Twice Over

I am JEEEEEEZUS! (By the way, did they ever find the obvious exit point?) First Class Citizen Twice Over

I'm just about to buy into this as well. I'm less concerned about the number of jumps, however. I'm going to the islands in February for vacation anyway, and this sounds like a kick in the pants. I have no intention of using their barracks or military meals either. Who needs that? In the middle of tropical fruit and fresh tropical seafood heaven I'm not eating Dominican MREs! First Class Citizen Twice Over

Interesting idea. It's completely rumor according to this CNN "news" article, but it DOES smack of MS's modus. If they act according to their history, they'll release Linux-ready software with proprietary incompatibilities that only MS-Linux would support. Of course they couldn't achieve that if they released their products as open-source, and no Linux or Unix admin would ever install an MS binary, so it's not clear how they could fuck this one up even if they tried. First Class Citizen Twice Over

This isn't the newest data, but the write up clearly vindicates our overall success. Soon, the world! 1998 recruitment report First Class Citizen Twice Over

Goose, you claimed to be in the sciences I think, but perhaps not as a scientist with the strict training involved. If you're going to make claims of scientific fact, however, it would be nice if you could back them up even a little bit. So let's start over: What is your basis for believing 1.5% is the naturally occuring rate of homosexuality? What is your basis for believing 10% is occuring in certain areas? What is your basis for believing this increase is caused by peer pressure? What is your basis for believing that peer-induced homosexual experimentation reduces birth rates? Edited to add: If your claim is the experimenters become permanently and exclusively homosexual, please give your basis for believing this as well.End of edit And finally, what is your basis for believing that "peer-induced homosexual experimentation" related reduced birth rates is increasing rapidly enough to reverse the exponetial growth in population? First Class Citizen Twice Over

If you believe the NW is more than 10% gay, please cite your sources. Also, please cite your source for your claim that 1.5% is a more reasonable figure. I ask because I've seen some particularly creative claims made by those who have an ax to grind (on both sides, of course). For instance, a political group called the Oregon Citizen's Alliance here in Oregon once sent out brochures claiming that gay men eat one pound of human feces per year, on average and that we have over 1000 sexual partners per year. First Class Citizen Twice Over

If this planet were faced with a population DECREASE problem AND your conclusions about why people identify as gay were valid AND it was true that experimenting heterosexuals are incapable of breeding, I would share your sentiment. However, none of these is pursuasive. While it is undoubtably true that people experiment with sexual activities that are outside of their primary orientation (I have), it is not true that they are thereby somehow prevented from having kids. While it is possibly true that 1.5% is naturally gay, I have never seen anything to indicate that this number is any more or less accurate than Kinsey's 10% or any other. While it is true that population density of homosexuals varies, that does NOT imply that there is a conversion going on in those areas. Population shifts for all sorts of reasons and gay meccas are a popular resettlement option for obvious reasons. Even if it WERE true that there were conversion going on AND that converted heterosexuals never bred, it would STILL be necessary to prove that the rate were increasing rapidly enough to overcome other population factors, and that's not even HINTED at in your posting. You've also complained about the unhealthy abuse of PC pressures, and I agree with you. "PC" is a movement whose primary aim is to reduce unnecessary smothering of minority viewpoints. It can be overused with bad results. Most of the claims in your posting are either verifiably true or verifiably false. If your belief in them is contingent on their truth, then I have no problem with them. If you believe in false things despite all evidence, then I would conclude you're overly attached to them for some other reason than reason. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I'm glad you don't have kids, too. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Are you for real? First Class Citizen Twice Over

Whew. Sorry about misinterpreting then. It's such a cliche for the gay man to come on to a straight man and get a violent response. The overreaction can range from acting out verbally to murder (Matthew Shephard and god knows how many others, RIP.) That's a hot button for me, as you can tell. It seems like the dz.com population by and large has their heads on straight.

For christ's sake! I'm straining to remain polite here, so bear with me if some of my irritation leaks out. If a gay person makes a pass at a straight person who he doesn't know is straight that is NOT an insult and it's STUPID to be offended. In the exact same way, it's NOT offensive if a straight woman makes a pass at a gay man. Or if a straight man makes a pass at a lesbian, etc. Look, kids. If you take a guess at someone's orientation you might be innocently wrong. It's INNOCENT! For god's sake, just be an adult and handle things without getting dramatic. Just say, "no thanks. I'm not gay," and let it drop. Don't make exaggerated emotional response signals like saying "EEEeeeeeW!!!" and don't get worked up. That's so childish. (Ok, so I failed to remain polite. I'll live with it.) First Class Citizen Twice Over

My job doesn't require me to be DRESSED. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I wish I had a photo of it, but there's a an old chinese restaurant in the tiny Chinatown area in Portland called "Hung Far Low". Their sign is vertical and somewhat phallic, if you stretch your imagination. First Class Citizen Twice Over

When did "gay" come to mean "dumb" (which at some point came to mean "stupid")? Personally, I'm not a big fan of this new meaning. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I don't think it's his brains he's concerned about. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I look forward to the day nobody bothers to write stories about the first gay this and the first gay that anymore. Get over it, people. This isn't earth shattering! First Class Citizen Twice Over

Oh, that's so cool. I wish I was good at it. I'm such an amateur it's like coloring by numbers. Luckily I have other charms :) First Class Citizen Twice Over

Thanks for the advice, JohnnyD. By the way, I got news about my hard reserve landing today after I posted it on this thread. See my new thread, "Dramatic stealth injury" in Talk Back. First Class Citizen Twice Over

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!! Excellent idea! I think I'll drink beer tonight! (That is what you meant, right?) First Class Citizen Twice Over

The chiropractor says the healing is coming along fine all by itself and there's nothing in particular to do immediately. He did warn me not to "load up the spine too heavily." I've made about 30 jumps since then with absolutely no problems. I'll find out if he prohibits any more skydiving in a few days. First Class Citizen Twice Over

Last August I had a reserve ride which ended in a sketchy landing. Ok, so it was a full-on terrible landing. Basically in my haste to get back to the ground I forgot how to flare and smashed in with some force. I've had a slightly sore and stiff lower back since then and recently started seeing a chiropractor to work out the kinks. Well, the kinks didn't exactly go away quickly, so he sent me for xrays last week. The result? It turns out I have a broken back! Yup, it's a tiny, healing fracture on L2. It's my first broken bone. I can't wait to tell my mother. She'll be so proud. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I had a reserve ride earlier this year on my Tempo 150. It's the same size as my main, but being F111 it might be a bit less safe. I also found that even though I thought I was being clear headed, I still set up a terrible landing, rode to 1/2 brakes until flare time, and flared like a first jumper. It wasn't pretty. Having a great big reserve is sounding good. First Class Citizen Twice Over

I understand. Your comments were very interesting to me. I didn't respond largely because I didn't see anything I wanted to disagree with. Usually "My too" posts are unwelcome, although in an emotional moment they can be the right thing to do. Your last line literally says, "Don't judge yourself too harshly" but I think you meant "Don't judge others too harshly." It's good advice and I appreciate the reminder. First Class Citizen Twice Over