TriGirl

I presume you meant DeLand or Sebastian. I have no idea what they have going on this year, but Lake Wales will have Collegiates.

What she said. I drove Austin to SE Alabama and back last year (thankfully broken up by about 8 months, but with a toddler). Torture. Pure torture. Even with interesting audiobooks. Best of luck to you!!

[vomit emoticon] More for you, I guess! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

There will ALWAYS be Z-Hills! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I live in Slidell, LA (near NOLA, about 45 min from Biloxi), and drive the 9+ hours between there and Tampa every time I get a 4-day weekend. The bit between P-Cola and Slidell is better, as you have towns, coastline, and state lines to break up the monotony. Even between P-Cola and Tallahassee is pretty boring, I'm afraid. You aren't doing much but counting down miles until the state line. And a great way to skip NOLA is to take I-12 once you get to Slidell. It cuts off that whole V-shaped southern detour across the lake, and avoids a ton of crazy traffic (read: crazy drivers). ETA: I highly recommend getting all the way to Biloxi on your first day. Morning traffic through Pensacola and Mobile will delay you so much that you'll feel defeated the rest of the drive. It will be better if you can get through Mobile in the evening, when it's clear, and have a fresh start the next morning. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Same. However, on my Omaha Steaks burger, I like a lightly toasted bun.

Always accept, never offer! (that cartoon is awesome) See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

^This^ Looks a bit like the kid from the car commercial who thinks about what it would be like to have the car all day. "I was only gone a few minutes!" See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Drove to Tampa Thursday night. Was making pretty decent time until I got on I-75 South. The road maintenance they do at night obviously did not take into consideration the start of the holiday weekend. Three lanes going down to one (no warning before the last possible exit). In 90 minutes I traveled 1.5 miles. In two hours that increased only to 3 miles total. I can accept that in some circumstances, but this was at 10:30 Thursday night! Didn't make it to the house until almost 4 am. It was worse for others. A gas station attendant at the next exit was trying to close, but had several parents with small children trying to get in for the bathrooms! (Disney World traffic) See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I have no doubt this will end up on the Titus podcast. Christopher Titus will guess the kid is from Florida. Bombshell Rae will note the kid was from Alabama, but that he was being forced to move to Florida. One of them will comment that he's now where he belongs. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

This is the basis from which so many of the opposition statements are being presented -- except its a flawed premise. As many have since posted, most churches already practice some sort of policy that denies a wedding in their spaces. The most extreme of which (that I can think of right now) is the LDS church (Mormons). They deny their own followers the right to be married in the temple if those followers are not deemed in a good enough standing with Christ (by their sinful actions). They don't even allow non-members to ENTER the temple to be guests at a wedding being conducted there. So, I don't see any religion in general, or a particular local clergy or congregation, being sued or fined over refusing to officiate over (or host, or rent the church's space to) a same-sex wedding. And I can't imagine anyone really believing any court might try to make them. See above. Clergy have been denying to officiate weddings for couples they do not approve for many moons, for a myriad of reasons. This is nothing new. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Guilty! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

What other preparation did she take during that time, for alternative ways to protect/defend herself? If she just sat around waiting to be able to get a firearm, then she is the example of why focusing JUST on the ability to own one is the irresponsible course of action that lead to her tunnel vision (e.g., only a gun can protect her). So many other options exercised would have increased her chances of survival even more. By waiting and relying only on the ability to acquire a firearm, she is dead (going back to your logic). My point of view is also that the ex is the reason she's dead. He's the one who ambushed and killed her. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

The man out weighed her by 100lbs, was a little bit crazy, and had a knife. What would you consider a "practical alternative?" Semantics aside on whether I chose the best phrase (maybe I didn't?), I've not had military or tactical training, so I'll defer to professional experts in the field such as TriGirl and Winsor. Their posts seem instructive. Not to mention the fact that MOST guys I'm regularly in contact with also outweigh me by 100 lbs. My post still stands. No, this woman did not have a firearm. No, she did not have any other tactical training (that we're aware of -- or even firearms training that we're aware of). I've also escaped from a relationship with a guy who would probably was capable of going this far, had I stuck around much longer (well before I had any of this training). I say all this because it goes to show that I've been there, and still insist simply having a gun would have given her very little increased chance for survival (or taking him out with her). Bottom line -- he wanted her dead. He could have chosen from a long list of ways to make that happen, and she could have chosen from a long list of ways to mitigate that. Would a firearm have helped her if he had messed with her car? Set an IED? No. Could it have helped her in the situation that actually went down? Yes, it is possible; but not probable. To imply (as the headline did) that the SOLE reason he was able to kill her was because she was still waiting for a permit is, as I said before, both absurd and irresponsible. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Yep, grammar is important. Your Nuts See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

This has always been my point about that flag. It represents a group of states that wanted to secede. Isn't that treason? To me it symbolizes the group of states who advocated treason. Or if the state is flying the flag today, it's by default saying it wants to secede (form another Confederacy). The founders in the 1770s got away with treason because their declaration and campaign was successful. Why would any member of the Union (today) want to cling to the membership of another (no longer existing) country? So, that's my argument on the subject. I really don't like the informal polls that are asking people whether the flag symbolizes heritage or slavery (only two choices), when there are so many other nuances to consider. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I'd simply say that reenactments, visits to the different battle sites, and other such tangible, visible examples are excellent tools for people to really learn about what happened. Now, flying the flag is another issue; but at least I can understand how powerful a reenactment can be to those who otherwise would have had no idea the carnage that took place within such small areas. Glorifying it? No, I don't get that. But preserving the lessons so we can learn from them? Yeah, that I get. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

My brother has recommended Black Sails to me, but I've yet to start it. Season 1 is out on DVD, but my nephew says it isn't available on Netflix streaming yet. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

...and for those not on FB: http://www.dailydot.com/lol/cat-stowaway-plane-wing/?fb=dd See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

SFW??? See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

The part of kallends stat he leaves out is that the majority of those he lists are criminals killing other criminals while committing criminal acts And yet, the criminal in this case also did NOT need a firearm. Surely, the victim had other ways to defend herself in the meantime. If she could have gotten to her gun in time to save herself, why not a homemade pepper straw? Or a knife of her own? If she felt the need to have a more serious weapon, could she have procured a Taser? Does New Jersey even have CCW? If not, how would she have had a gun on her person as she was returning to her home? There are so many possible alternative scenarios here that blaming her murder only on the red tape that kept her from carrying a firearm is ridiculous. It's also irresponsible. It's arguments/examples like these that enable the average person to stop thinking of other options or possibilities and go directly to, "I need a gun!" See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I'm no legal expert by any stretch, so I am really asking this for my enlightenment. But, isn't ^this^ like saying, "if you've done nothing wrong, what do you have to hide?" As in, "why should I get a search warrant? If you didn't do anything wrong, you wouldn't mind proving that by (taking this blood test/giving me your DNA/providing your fingerprints/letting me look inside your apartment)." What's the difference? See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Amazon. From what I hear about her hugs, I have no doubt she could drag anyone, any-damn-where she wanted! ETA -- or Promise5. I know she has rescue training and experience.

Marine fitness requirement is with the palms-in ? I would have assumed palms-out. You're not going to have a palms-in option when trying to scale a wall or a fence. Don Palms in or out, you can change during the test. No Kip. This is just for the flexed arm hang. Pull-ups are the Marines' choice (and yes, can be changed during the test, as long as the Marine stays on the bar and does not use the vertical supports for help). See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

They had her doing a dead hang, and being in pretty good shape she did well. I'm not familiar with the flexed arm hang. How flexed, and for how long? Those recruiters would have put her in the correct position. Palms facing in, chin above the bar. Hold it. Max points is 70 seconds. You may lower yourself toward the full hanging position (arms ALMOST straight), but the clock stops when your arms are straight. I've known very young/slender girls hold it for nearly three minutes. I've known men who could easily do 20 pull-ups not be able to "hang" for more than 15 seconds. However, in training for pull-ups, during one test I was able to pull myself back up to having my chin over the bar after I had started to lower myself down. Minimum hang time to pass: 15 seconds. Minimum number of pull-ups to pass: 3. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!