TomAiello

I'm sure you can. Our local Costco must have sold a million copies. Every time you walked in for the next year and half they were playing that game on all the big screens. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm sure there are plenty of people who know how to shoot and still oppose second amendment rights. Same as there are people who support second amendment rights and still have never owned a firearm. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

All I've edited several posts in this thread to remove the last name of one of the attendee's at their request. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you call your local PD, you can usually find out what their officers are issued (just explain why you want to know, so they don't think you're a nut). If you purchase that exact weapon, it's going to be very difficult for an attorney to argue excessive force. Same (and more) if you purchase any weapon with less capacity and/or less muzzle energy. In my town, the cops mostly carry Glock 22's (15 rounds of .40 S&W). I'd doubt anyone here would consider it excessive force to carry one, or anything with less than 15 rounds of anything "smaller" than .40. That leaves open most of the weapons on the market. Then again, in my town, open carry is legal and the other day I saw a guy carry a .357 magnum revolver into a bank. Around here, if you shoot someone in self defense, you're most likely to get a handshake and a thank you from the cops. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Direct donation links, information links, and family contact links have been collected here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I did get it. It's still sitting in the bank. I wish there had been a check box form where I could have selected "use this money to pay down the national debt instead of sending it to me." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I believe that the new (non-polygamy) revelation basically makes a loophole so that they can achieve the highest levels of heaven without multiple wives. If I understand it correctly, the newer prophets can have revelations that re-interpret things, but they can't directly "overturn" (I'm sure that's not the correct terminology) previous revelations. In this case, the newer revelation says that since the world isn't ready for plural marriage, otherwise devout Mormons can still make it to the top ranks of heaven, because they've essentially "done their best" to comply with the heavenly mandate, within the worldly restrictions placed on them by (other) men. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

After Mountain Meadows and the subsequent US invasion of Utah, the prophet at the time (I can't recall who it was) had a revelation that, although celestial marriage (polygamy) was the proper organization for human affairs, the modern world wasn't yet "ready" for it, and that it would have to be held off until the world was ready to accept god's will. Basically, congress bludgeoned the LDS church into abandoning one of their central tenets (polygamy) by threatening to confiscate all LDS assets (militarily, if necessary). The LDS leadership responded by officially reversing doctrinal course, while giving themselves a theological out (the world isn't ready for true Godliness yet), and basically going underground (LDS leaders continued to be fairly open in their polygamy for another 20 or 30 years, actually). Over time, this caused polygamy to fall out of the LDS mainstream (and spawned the fundamentalist polygamist sects, who still worked from the original tenets). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My condolences to family and friends. I'd only met Ahmed briefly, at Bridge Day this year. He was going to come out here for a week next month. I'm saddened that I won't have the chance to know him better. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In a genetic sense, promiscuity is a survival trait. So, the genes you "want" to breed with (to maximize the rate at which you pass along your own genes) are the ones that are easiest to breed with. Even better if they're highly desirable (because then you're genes will spread even further in later generations). Your genes say to go for the ho, but if you've got a choice between two hos, go for the hotter one. In fact, the weird corollary is that your genes want your offspring to be little hos, too. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That's pretty wacky. Aren't a good number of new home buyers people who've just moved into town with a new job? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

All, I've just hacked out about half of this thread in an effort to remove the 5 or 6 posts that were over the line. At the moment, I can't be bothered to cut and paste back in the rest of the stuff, so if your post got yanked out with the others, I apologize. Please be aware that when a post is removed _all_ the posts replying to it go with it. Therefore, if you want to be sure that your serious posts stay in the thread, please try to respond to other serious (and mature) posts. While I will try to cut and paste to put posts back that have good informational content, the bulk of the "lost" posts here were basically just banter between friends. Kris, please back off. Consider this your warning. Robi, Glen, please remember that when someone makes an attack, that does not justify attacking them back. Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

So some PhD student basically had to come up with a justification for being away from the library for half the year... Better. He got his grant to pay for his skydiving, too. He came down here last year and took my BASE course--and got grant money to cover those expenses, too. He was working on getting a grant to study BASE jumping in Norway, Switzerland and Malaysia, last I heard. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Well, it should be Keyser Söze but I'm not sure you could do the o with the umlaut in a screen name. Wouldn't it be Szözé, assuming the surname is Hungarian (since in the backstory bits he supposedly came from Budapest)? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

They're totally legit. I've had an account with them for years. ING is International Nederlanden Groep (International Netherlands Group). It's one of the world's largest banking groups. More information here. There are similar high interest savings "direct" type programs at other big banks (I think Citi has one, I seem to remember another somewhere), so you might check around. Your buddy probably gets some incentive for referring you (a while back it was 50 bucks each for the referrer and the referree), and you may get a little extra for starting the account, too. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This one may be more appropriate if you're a DZ dweller, particularly if you happen to be stuck at a DZ in Northern California. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Check out Speakers' Corner. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

When I was 12, my brother and I met him and had him sign our Dungeon Masters Guide and Player's Handbook. If we had been smart enough to buy new copies that day, and keep them in mint condition, I bet they'd be worth something now. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

From the Terms of Use, which you agreed to when you created your account. edit to add: I suggest that anyone considering a lawsuit start by reading the terms of use, which they have agreed to, and asking themselves if they really think they have legal standing to sue, especially considering the following: -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm sure his intention is not to get hurt. I'm also pretty sure that Jeb knows the whole story about Den (the guy who skipped across the grass). Um, why would he need to pack before heading to the bar? The rig would still be packed, wouldn't it? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Skipped across a grassy field and lived, actually. Seriously injured, but was back jumping a year or so later. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Dude, didn't you see Brendan's super slick laptop? You know you want a real computer. Seriously, if you want I'll give you 50 bucks for it if you'll cover the shipping. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

With no slider at terminal, the parachute system would not work. It would basically explode and probably injure the jumper severely in the process. I'd bet that the ramp height is intentionally designed to allow an abort if things aren't looking good, using a mesh slider. With a mesh slider and significant forward speed (to put the deployment behind, rather than above, the jumper) you can probably pull at about 200 feet and survive (yes, I've got the video of that happening). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think that a better way to implement this idea would be to make it: a) applied on a "per user" basis--if you are a problem user, a moderator can limit your number of posts per day, and no one else needs to worry about it or; b) applied on a tighter time limit than "per day" like the "tarpitting" idea--you get reduced to one post per X minutes (so that folks who like to get on and spray all the forums with 60 useless posts in 10 minutes find themselves able to only make one post every 10 minutes) or; c) both of the above--moderators could choose to apply a limit of "x posts per x time" to users who were out of line, on a case by case basis, and the 99% of users who aren't doing that wouldn't ever have to worry about it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Where have you been hiding that truck?? All I've ever seen is the Mazda. The Mazda and the Ranger for that year (and many others) are the same truck. Mine came with a tag inside that said "built by the Ford assembly plant, St Paul, Minnesota." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com