Just to reinforce your point, I've seen the OKCPD do the same thing... over a stupid little cell phone... Evidently they don't take kindly to threats and extortion.
Believe it or not, these guys found my friends Cell phone, used it, and when they were contacted by "Us" they would only return it if we promised to pay a certian sum of cash... So we called the cops, they had us set up the meeting, they staked it out, and when the thieves took the money... I shit you not atleast 10 cops came out of the woodwork including one undercover in street clothes and 4 squad cars... Kewlest thing I've ever seen on a friday night.
All for a cell phone... Moral: Don't steal phones in oklahoma cause the OKCPD gets bored...
You guys are forgetting one very important thing, The oil industry does not "Set" the price of your gas. Politics and waring nations do. Hell, even consumer's have lost control of that commodity.
Iran threatens to blow up Israel, and you get a $.50 increase in prices, The US threatens N. Korea and it goes up $2... No where in this picture does realized demand actually have a tangible weight, only the pereceived by product of political events. Natural disasters have the same effect as well, so does rumor of new resouces comming online, or going offline...
But demand has very little to do with it, and the big 4-5 US O&G companies have even less to do with it. Seriously, the Supers only own about 10% or something like that of all gas stations in the country, 90% fucking percent of them are independant.... The O&G industry isn't fixing your damn gas prices, it's OPEC and your political leaders...
So again, Stop getting down on me for working hard to provide you with more petro. I"m not makeing more money, and the companies that are showing record profits are only showing profits like that cause you can't invest / build infrastructure fast enough to NOT show a profit... Thanks to the liberal tree hugging yadda yadda....
As i'm not a Mac Fanboi persey, but if there was a greater selection of games available for the mac I'd switch without issue.
I'm sick of Windows, Not so much cause they suck, but because it's been the same old tired reused shit for 10 years now... Why Apple hasn't tried to tap this nitch yet I've no clue, but I really think they should. They'd find more support than they'd expect I'd bet.
And yes, I am one of those folks who paid more for my video card than most pay for a whole system. My current PC is pretty damn nice overall yet I have issues booting up and actually "Useing" it cause I'm sick of windows, sick of the way it looks, works, crashes, etc... I try Linux and get mired down in hours of research and learning just to delete 4 characters out of a.conf file cause Xorg didn't work... No thank you... I'm all for different but I'm not gonna dedicate a lifetime to learning...
The mac is the next best alternative to re-invigorate the market IMO. who knows if they'll even try to pull it off tho.
Unfortunately it's not that simple. I really wish those of you who hate the O&G industry would study up on how it really works and where the money really goes...
All high prices really do is create negative publicity for those, like myself, who work in the industry... subtract $20/barrel of oil or $2.00/mcfe gas and the industry still makes money, is still stable (read: not crashing), and the public doesn't hate us.
Profits have gone up, but it's not the make-believe land you implied. Remember, for every O&G company makeing money hand over fist, there's a supply company, or a drilling company, or a service company increaseing their rates as high as they can.
Add to that the fact that most big O&G companies have negelected infrastructure for nearly 25 years (since the early 80's), and you've got a TON of catching up to do. The American O&G industry is a shadow of it's former self as relates to our own homeland. Not because we don't ahve the resouces, but because we've not maintained our own infrastructure. When was the last refinery build on US soil? Pipelines anyone?
Most of you probably didn't know that in the early 90's most of the rigs in the US were shiped over seas (well throughout most of the 80's bust and early 90's...) We don't have enough rigs to develop what's available. we CANT keep up if we wanted to...
Yes, I'm a O&G fanboi, but it's what I do for a living and I'll defend it to my death. The day you stop pumping gas is the day I'll go quietly into the sunset. Otherwise research more, bitch less, and quit getting down on me for doing my job.
Try useing a modern weather dopler RADAR system. You'd have to tune it of course but those are MUCH higher resolution than is needed in aviation. They can pick up "Water droplets" & Vapors (includeing smoke plumes, see the stories of Texas & Oklahoma Burning up this last winter) from hundreds of miles away. Account for the curvature of the earth and you can pick up most close range objects as low as 100m or so, in really nice detail.
RADAR is much more sophistacated than the average person might think. All it takes is the proper tech to tune it up for what you need.
You have to admit tho, The liberal media has a HUGE advantage in numbers overall. You might not like how Fox spins things to the right from time to time, but it's the ONLY media outlett capable of it.
And what if Fox spun things to the right ALL the time??? What of it. Liberals have CNN, Headline news, ABC, CBS, NBC, and a host of other broadcast and print sources... The right basically has FOX, and AM (now satalite) radio... Woo...
No matter what you think about Fox, it doesn't cater 100% to the right like for instance, how CNN caters 100% to the left. There's alot of opinion that gets stated on FOX that I don't agree with, But alot != All... which is why I can't stand to watch any of the big networks anymore. You can't even watch coverage of a Tornado without hearing spin of how the republican party are responsible for it...
It's re-god-damn-diculas... Atleast fox will report the story on it's merit, and generally leave it at that. Not always, but most of the time.
I understand your point. Moreover it's been made 1000's of times here. What I don't understand is why people don't ask other content providers to parse their data equally? Why not pressure your local newspaper into only selling you the sports section instead of the entire work. It'd save paper, ink, and generally leave less of an enviromental footprint. Plus you wouldn't have to deal with stuff you don't want.
Or even better, Selling DvD content by the chapter instead of having to buy the whole freak'n movie. I know there are many movies where I could settle for just a few key scenes with some kick ass dialogue or special effects that I'd like, without all that other BS in the tweens...
My point here is that long ago music was released by the title, and not by the album. The industry adapted to a by the album mentality when tape became popular and it's been that way every since. The industry needs to change it's mindset back to the "Singles" industry if it wishes to avoid the pitfals it's faceing now.
Basically, if they continue to release new music based on the album premise, pirating will only get worse if there's only 1 or 2 good songs...
Are you implying that a media outlet must criticize our leader in order to be considered "Fair and Balanced"? I'm really confused on this one. Be carefull of the standards you use to define "Fair and balanced"... It can cost you credibility.
I fail to see how your opinions of our leader should dictate what is Fair and Balanced in reporting. Fox reports the approval numbers frequently. They run stories that I generally don't agree with (read: liberalistic or just bad reporting IN MY OPINION). They generally do a good job of not spinning information too far to the left or right.
Do they spin? Of course, it's the degree to which they spin that's the key, and they're far better than CNN or any other major media outlett when it comes to propaganda. I go there to read up on the sciences without having to sift through endless stories of the "Sky is falling because of the republican monster". I read up on technology without having to wade through endless political drabble mixed in.
Overall you won't find a non-biased news source. We all have our biases and so do reporters. However, Fox atleast tries to balance that out.
Is there something wrong with buying CD's??? I'm not trying to be any kind of smart ass or the like, but am I old fashoned for continueing to buy "entire" albums?
I was under the impression that CD's were still lossless, and were still somewhat portable, and perfectly legal. You can even rip them and load them into your Ipod or fav player without worry...
Have they started DRM'ing Cd's so you can't rip them yet? that's what I figured was the next step but haven't run across one yet.
Little late on the reply, so accept my appologies. I'll try to answer your questions as honestly as possible but this requires a tad bit of back story...
First off, I am a Christian and I have my own faith that is what it is. I do not, however, consider myself part of any sect, congreation, or denomination. Basically, as a child I saw through the hypocracy and lies and opted out of the popularity contests and such.
So with that in mind; If the typical christain were like myself, then no, they wouldn't be afraid or otherwise compelled to not use the implant. People take on artificial devices all the time to extend their lives, why not take on one that would protect it as well.
Further, I don't know any christians at all that take the good book 100% serious anymore. My grandmother was the last person I knew that lived passage to passage, and truely believed in the litteral translations of those. ALL the christians I know see it as a neat tool to quote from but don't really "Believe" the words as absolute truth. Which I suspect isn't much different than any other religion.
The answer to #2 is answered above. I mean, does god have a degree of tollerance for defileing the body? do people with screws in their bones not get admittance because they've been defiled? Tatoos I can see as blatant disreguard for ones self, but other medical devices are forigen just the same. Does god pick and choose or does everyone fall under the same blatant rules.
This is where modern society diverges from religion and eventually god dies. Whether or not that's when the sky falls and judgement day comes I couldn't / won't say. But it seems that religion has changed an aweful lot as time moves forward, which seems somewhat counter intuattive...
Haha, my first thought was what a kewl freak'n job to have. Then it occured to me that they've shut down decent sized airports for toy guns and white dust let alone C4 or any other type of contraband. Imagine being an undercover agent testing the system and bringing DIA to a halt... That would suck hard core... haha... But I can see it happening easily enough.:-)
Wasn't trying to pick a political fight. I'm simply stateing that if the democrats would put a candidate up that I felt confidident in, I'd have no problems vote that way. Truth be told, it was people like myself that have put bush in office for the last 6 years. Not the devout right or the steadfast left. Us swing voters that could go either way have decided the last 2 elections and will more than likely be empowered to do the same in 2.5 more years...
So call me a shill if you want, But voting for Kerry made me feel like sitting on my dirty uncle's lap. Gore was just an asshole that I never trusted, even in the 8 years of Clinton's presidency. Call me a whakko but i'm not gonna vote for people who make me uncomfortable unless I don't have a choice...
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Us swing voters, voted for Bush because he was the lesser of 2 evils. He didn't make us uncomfortable and we knew what we already had. Had you put someone out there that could have made us swing voters more comfortable with their leadership and convictions maybe, Just maybe you could have pulled off the upsett... But you didn't. Simple truth is neither Bush or Kerry was worth a goats fart, but Bush was by far the more viable candidate from my perspective. Kerry had too many unknowns that just made me feel dirty...
IN hindsight, I don't regret casting my vote for bush. I do however lament that our leaders can't provide better candidates than bush / gore / kerry..... Or maybe it's that our leaders are who we look towards instead of to ourselves... *shrug* I just know that I can only work with the resouces I'm provided since I'm incapable of running the nation myself.
Just to point out the obvious, real estate is different because it's all based on physical tangible assetts... if the houseing bubble bursts, I still have my house, with outrageously low interest rates. So even if I miss out on the high end sale / low end buy, I still have an incredible deal that my parrents view with envy.
So where real estate is concerened, it's completely dependant on your perspective. As for tech stocks, I won't comment. I lucked out by moving from tech to commodities.:-) So I've had a good 12 year run thus far.
But you bush haters out there need to start pushing your candidate now. Have you guys even come up with a short list of contenders yet? We pretty much know Cheney isn't gonna run so it's "nearly" a clean slate. Especially given the current adminitration's low approval numbers...
My advice is to stop bitching about how bad it is, and start searching for a candidate that I won't feel uncomfortable voting for. Like it or not, I never felt uncomfortable with Bush (although lately he's starting to wear me thin). On the flip side, I couldn't STAND gore or kerry. They were fake, full of shit, and had no character. Atleast bush believes that what he's doing is for the greater good of our nation. Whether it be true or not, he's alteast acting on his belief structure and not some bullshit poll. Point to me one issue where either of the last 2 looseing candidates could say the same.
So let this be a warning, if you continue to stand around and bitch nothings gonna change. Instead focus your efforts inward and get a guy that I'd vote for. Otherwise the ruleing party will remain so... that you can take to the bank.
I'm not sure why Splenda doesn't seem to be catching on, since to me it is definitely the best diet sweetener so far
QFE. Diet Coke w/Splenda is my drink of choice now, I think it's far supperior to regular diet coke. I have no idea why it's not catching on but they're getting plenty of my business.
As for artificial sweetners, you really don't get used to them as much as you get accustomed to not consumeing sugar it'self. I for one have lost my sweet tooth almost entirely now, only able to consume things like honey and (real) maple syrup now without spazzing out. Even really good deserts like cheese cake can't be too rich else I can't eat it now, it just doesn't taste good.
It's probably not healthy, but then again... My sugar intake, err the lack thereof, allows for massive beer drinkage without much overall weight gain. I say it's a fair trade.
Just so the other voice is heard, it's not any different than Muslim's using Jihad (holy war) as an excuse to kill Christians and Jews. I have a hard time believing that the koran justifies violence, military service, and the like...
I'm not hear to flame or to otherwise support Christianity (of which I'm a card carrying believer), I'm just here to point out that Muslims, Jews, and other religions suffer from the same hypocrisy... Don't just single out the Christians in this endeavor. I'm sure the other religions of the world would have just as much opposition to offer to being permanently marked.
Wow is my life now. I work, sleep(badly), eat, poop, and exist to play WoW. I often wonder if everyone is as consumed by it as I am. Then another red dot pops up and I kill and forget my train of thought...
For the single, White, Male, no-kids, slightly overweight, woman hateing, computer dorks of the world, this is our only and best outlet. I suppose if I didn't hate women (or was gay or something) that might be different, but I'm a firm believer in learning from your mistakes. I've made two of them thus far, and managed to get out of it without kids. I consider myself lucky to only be addicted to WoW in my post relationship life. I mean there are far more potent drugs out there to ease the pain.:-)
So say what you want, but WoW is a perfectly fine way to passify a generation of lost men who have, no abor social entanglements...
Haha, I was waiting for that response. My Ex-Girlfriend used to come over to my house once a week and burn her shreadings... I thought she was paranoid and wierd until I got some odd charges on a Credit Card. Now I do the same. Plus fire is kewl.
Best investment people can make now days is an industrial shreader that can handle a full envelope of junk mail, and a fireplace to reduce it down to ash...
Yeah, it does. And I have a raid tonight so screw going out. I never really considered the whole retirement at 45 thing either. I probably ought to look into that since I have alot of cash just sitting around not doing anything. *shrug*
then again, Maybe my WoW assetts will allow me to retire @ 40.:-) Better get it while the gettings good (Read: not taxed).
Ouch... That's reality for ya... I subscribe to the parrents philosophy, in that I don't spend my money on stuff that seems stupid to me. I don't have fancy cars, big TV's, fast women, etc... It's just me, my 1500 sqft house, my 2 paid for (old) cars, and about $500 in rolling debt on my CC for groceries and such each month. (Read: I'm single with no life and addicted to WoW...)
And I was all happy that others exitsted that believed like I did, until you pointed out how senseless it is to save and be the diligent little ant... I Guess I'm going out tonight. Woohaw...
Also, I have an issue with those who wish to push their tollerance on to me by force. Watching homosexual behavior makes me vommit. So does watching people inject drugs (needles). I don't differentiate between the two.
Both are behaviors that I find repulsive and don't want to see. Granted, I'd draw the line at drafting laws to prevent the behaviors altogether, but within the context of public consumption, I'd sure as hell support legislation that helps me not vomit in public.
Call me what you will, but I know what I like, what I don't like, and don't want to have to like. And voteing on those principals doesn't make me feel a single bit guilty for anyone. After all, this is a democracy and I vote my own opinions...
Is premarital sex immoral? I did it, and I don't think it is. Maybe according to Christianity, since the Bible does say it is immoral, but I am atheist. Your morals don't apply to me.
I'll take my video games and movies with sex and violence, Christian fundamentalists can go to hell.
LOL... When you're in Oklahoma, you can take your Atheist views and go to hell as well. Since when did Atheist's become so self-righteous??? You're starting to sound christian.:-)
Seriously, YOu have no more right to shove video games with violence and sexual content down my throat than I do to prevent you from partakeing in your unholy ways... To imply as much makes you every bit as bad as those with which you attempt to repress.
Bzzt. Wrong. There is no law against a 10 year old going to see an R-Rated movie. There is no law against a 10 year old buying said movie on DVD - unrated version even.
Are you sure? I've witnessed first hand checkers at target refuseing to sell movies to underage kids siteing that it was illegal. While I understand that this does not make it true, I've also seen kids get turned away from movie theatres.
This of course being within the state of Oklahoma, which is a fact that's getting lost in the shuffle. I'll do some due dilligence on this tonight, but I honestly think that oklahoma state law prohibits the sale of rated "R" material to those under 18 unless escorted by an adult. Meaning that if you are age 16, and have a 21 year old adult with you, you're fine. But you cannot go alone at 16. This is what I've observed here my whole life, and saying that it's not illegal goes against everything I've experienced in 30 years here.
Like I said, I'll do some due dilligence and check back in. I do however, believe that oklahoma state law makes it illegal to sell certian IP's to minors (movies, porn, etc...)
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Just to reinforce your point, I've seen the OKCPD do the same thing... over a stupid little cell phone... Evidently they don't take kindly to threats and extortion.
Believe it or not, these guys found my friends Cell phone, used it, and when they were contacted by "Us" they would only return it if we promised to pay a certian sum of cash... So we called the cops, they had us set up the meeting, they staked it out, and when the thieves took the money... I shit you not atleast 10 cops came out of the woodwork including one undercover in street clothes and 4 squad cars... Kewlest thing I've ever seen on a friday night.
All for a cell phone... Moral: Don't steal phones in oklahoma cause the OKCPD gets bored...
You guys are forgetting one very important thing, The oil industry does not "Set" the price of your gas. Politics and waring nations do. Hell, even consumer's have lost control of that commodity.
Iran threatens to blow up Israel, and you get a $.50 increase in prices, The US threatens N. Korea and it goes up $2... No where in this picture does realized demand actually have a tangible weight, only the pereceived by product of political events. Natural disasters have the same effect as well, so does rumor of new resouces comming online, or going offline...
But demand has very little to do with it, and the big 4-5 US O&G companies have even less to do with it. Seriously, the Supers only own about 10% or something like that of all gas stations in the country, 90% fucking percent of them are independant.... The O&G industry isn't fixing your damn gas prices, it's OPEC and your political leaders...
So again, Stop getting down on me for working hard to provide you with more petro. I"m not makeing more money, and the companies that are showing record profits are only showing profits like that cause you can't invest / build infrastructure fast enough to NOT show a profit... Thanks to the liberal tree hugging yadda yadda....
-Duff
As i'm not a Mac Fanboi persey, but if there was a greater selection of games available for the mac I'd switch without issue.
.conf file cause Xorg didn't work... No thank you... I'm all for different but I'm not gonna dedicate a lifetime to learning...
I'm sick of Windows, Not so much cause they suck, but because it's been the same old tired reused shit for 10 years now... Why Apple hasn't tried to tap this nitch yet I've no clue, but I really think they should. They'd find more support than they'd expect I'd bet.
And yes, I am one of those folks who paid more for my video card than most pay for a whole system. My current PC is pretty damn nice overall yet I have issues booting up and actually "Useing" it cause I'm sick of windows, sick of the way it looks, works, crashes, etc... I try Linux and get mired down in hours of research and learning just to delete 4 characters out of a
The mac is the next best alternative to re-invigorate the market IMO. who knows if they'll even try to pull it off tho.
Unfortunately it's not that simple. I really wish those of you who hate the O&G industry would study up on how it really works and where the money really goes...
All high prices really do is create negative publicity for those, like myself, who work in the industry... subtract $20/barrel of oil or $2.00/mcfe gas and the industry still makes money, is still stable (read: not crashing), and the public doesn't hate us.
Profits have gone up, but it's not the make-believe land you implied. Remember, for every O&G company makeing money hand over fist, there's a supply company, or a drilling company, or a service company increaseing their rates as high as they can.
Add to that the fact that most big O&G companies have negelected infrastructure for nearly 25 years (since the early 80's), and you've got a TON of catching up to do. The American O&G industry is a shadow of it's former self as relates to our own homeland. Not because we don't ahve the resouces, but because we've not maintained our own infrastructure. When was the last refinery build on US soil? Pipelines anyone?
Most of you probably didn't know that in the early 90's most of the rigs in the US were shiped over seas (well throughout most of the 80's bust and early 90's...) We don't have enough rigs to develop what's available. we CANT keep up if we wanted to...
Yes, I'm a O&G fanboi, but it's what I do for a living and I'll defend it to my death. The day you stop pumping gas is the day I'll go quietly into the sunset. Otherwise research more, bitch less, and quit getting down on me for doing my job.
-Duff
Try useing a modern weather dopler RADAR system. You'd have to tune it of course but those are MUCH higher resolution than is needed in aviation. They can pick up "Water droplets" & Vapors (includeing smoke plumes, see the stories of Texas & Oklahoma Burning up this last winter) from hundreds of miles away. Account for the curvature of the earth and you can pick up most close range objects as low as 100m or so, in really nice detail.
RADAR is much more sophistacated than the average person might think. All it takes is the proper tech to tune it up for what you need.
-Duff
You have to admit tho, The liberal media has a HUGE advantage in numbers overall. You might not like how Fox spins things to the right from time to time, but it's the ONLY media outlett capable of it.
And what if Fox spun things to the right ALL the time??? What of it. Liberals have CNN, Headline news, ABC, CBS, NBC, and a host of other broadcast and print sources... The right basically has FOX, and AM (now satalite) radio... Woo...
No matter what you think about Fox, it doesn't cater 100% to the right like for instance, how CNN caters 100% to the left. There's alot of opinion that gets stated on FOX that I don't agree with, But alot != All... which is why I can't stand to watch any of the big networks anymore. You can't even watch coverage of a Tornado without hearing spin of how the republican party are responsible for it...
It's re-god-damn-diculas... Atleast fox will report the story on it's merit, and generally leave it at that. Not always, but most of the time.
-Duff
I understand your point. Moreover it's been made 1000's of times here. What I don't understand is why people don't ask other content providers to parse their data equally? Why not pressure your local newspaper into only selling you the sports section instead of the entire work. It'd save paper, ink, and generally leave less of an enviromental footprint. Plus you wouldn't have to deal with stuff you don't want.
Or even better, Selling DvD content by the chapter instead of having to buy the whole freak'n movie. I know there are many movies where I could settle for just a few key scenes with some kick ass dialogue or special effects that I'd like, without all that other BS in the tweens...
My point here is that long ago music was released by the title, and not by the album. The industry adapted to a by the album mentality when tape became popular and it's been that way every since. The industry needs to change it's mindset back to the "Singles" industry if it wishes to avoid the pitfals it's faceing now.
Basically, if they continue to release new music based on the album premise, pirating will only get worse if there's only 1 or 2 good songs...
-Duff
Are you implying that a media outlet must criticize our leader in order to be considered "Fair and Balanced"? I'm really confused on this one. Be carefull of the standards you use to define "Fair and balanced"... It can cost you credibility.
I fail to see how your opinions of our leader should dictate what is Fair and Balanced in reporting. Fox reports the approval numbers frequently. They run stories that I generally don't agree with (read: liberalistic or just bad reporting IN MY OPINION). They generally do a good job of not spinning information too far to the left or right.
Do they spin? Of course, it's the degree to which they spin that's the key, and they're far better than CNN or any other major media outlett when it comes to propaganda. I go there to read up on the sciences without having to sift through endless stories of the "Sky is falling because of the republican monster". I read up on technology without having to wade through endless political drabble mixed in.
Overall you won't find a non-biased news source. We all have our biases and so do reporters. However, Fox atleast tries to balance that out.
-Duff
Is there something wrong with buying CD's??? I'm not trying to be any kind of smart ass or the like, but am I old fashoned for continueing to buy "entire" albums?
I was under the impression that CD's were still lossless, and were still somewhat portable, and perfectly legal. You can even rip them and load them into your Ipod or fav player without worry...
Have they started DRM'ing Cd's so you can't rip them yet? that's what I figured was the next step but haven't run across one yet.
-Duff
It's like outlawing chainsaws because they can hurt people, or forks and knives, etcetera.
Not to derail the topic too much, but kind of like banning guns cause they kill people??? Just curious if we're in the same ballpark.
-Duff
Little late on the reply, so accept my appologies. I'll try to answer your questions as honestly as possible but this requires a tad bit of back story...
First off, I am a Christian and I have my own faith that is what it is. I do not, however, consider myself part of any sect, congreation, or denomination. Basically, as a child I saw through the hypocracy and lies and opted out of the popularity contests and such.
So with that in mind; If the typical christain were like myself, then no, they wouldn't be afraid or otherwise compelled to not use the implant. People take on artificial devices all the time to extend their lives, why not take on one that would protect it as well.
Further, I don't know any christians at all that take the good book 100% serious anymore. My grandmother was the last person I knew that lived passage to passage, and truely believed in the litteral translations of those. ALL the christians I know see it as a neat tool to quote from but don't really "Believe" the words as absolute truth. Which I suspect isn't much different than any other religion.
The answer to #2 is answered above. I mean, does god have a degree of tollerance for defileing the body? do people with screws in their bones not get admittance because they've been defiled? Tatoos I can see as blatant disreguard for ones self, but other medical devices are forigen just the same. Does god pick and choose or does everyone fall under the same blatant rules.
This is where modern society diverges from religion and eventually god dies. Whether or not that's when the sky falls and judgement day comes I couldn't / won't say. But it seems that religion has changed an aweful lot as time moves forward, which seems somewhat counter intuattive...
Haha, my first thought was what a kewl freak'n job to have. Then it occured to me that they've shut down decent sized airports for toy guns and white dust let alone C4 or any other type of contraband. Imagine being an undercover agent testing the system and bringing DIA to a halt... That would suck hard core... haha... But I can see it happening easily enough. :-)
I drink my coffe black, on ice. Sipping takes too long to get that "awake" effect going. Ice it down and gulp it. :-) Fastest way to happiness. :-)
and you're 100% correct, it's all about personal taste.
Wasn't trying to pick a political fight. I'm simply stateing that if the democrats would put a candidate up that I felt confidident in, I'd have no problems vote that way. Truth be told, it was people like myself that have put bush in office for the last 6 years. Not the devout right or the steadfast left. Us swing voters that could go either way have decided the last 2 elections and will more than likely be empowered to do the same in 2.5 more years...
So call me a shill if you want, But voting for Kerry made me feel like sitting on my dirty uncle's lap. Gore was just an asshole that I never trusted, even in the 8 years of Clinton's presidency. Call me a whakko but i'm not gonna vote for people who make me uncomfortable unless I don't have a choice...
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Us swing voters, voted for Bush because he was the lesser of 2 evils. He didn't make us uncomfortable and we knew what we already had. Had you put someone out there that could have made us swing voters more comfortable with their leadership and convictions maybe, Just maybe you could have pulled off the upsett... But you didn't. Simple truth is neither Bush or Kerry was worth a goats fart, but Bush was by far the more viable candidate from my perspective. Kerry had too many unknowns that just made me feel dirty...
IN hindsight, I don't regret casting my vote for bush. I do however lament that our leaders can't provide better candidates than bush / gore / kerry..... Or maybe it's that our leaders are who we look towards instead of to ourselves... *shrug* I just know that I can only work with the resouces I'm provided since I'm incapable of running the nation myself.
-Duff
Just to point out the obvious, real estate is different because it's all based on physical tangible assetts... if the houseing bubble bursts, I still have my house, with outrageously low interest rates. So even if I miss out on the high end sale / low end buy, I still have an incredible deal that my parrents view with envy.
:-) So I've had a good 12 year run thus far.
So where real estate is concerened, it's completely dependant on your perspective. As for tech stocks, I won't comment. I lucked out by moving from tech to commodities.
-Duff
But you bush haters out there need to start pushing your candidate now. Have you guys even come up with a short list of contenders yet? We pretty much know Cheney isn't gonna run so it's "nearly" a clean slate. Especially given the current adminitration's low approval numbers...
My advice is to stop bitching about how bad it is, and start searching for a candidate that I won't feel uncomfortable voting for. Like it or not, I never felt uncomfortable with Bush (although lately he's starting to wear me thin). On the flip side, I couldn't STAND gore or kerry. They were fake, full of shit, and had no character. Atleast bush believes that what he's doing is for the greater good of our nation. Whether it be true or not, he's alteast acting on his belief structure and not some bullshit poll. Point to me one issue where either of the last 2 looseing candidates could say the same.
So let this be a warning, if you continue to stand around and bitch nothings gonna change. Instead focus your efforts inward and get a guy that I'd vote for. Otherwise the ruleing party will remain so... that you can take to the bank.
-Duff
I'm not sure why Splenda doesn't seem to be catching on, since to me it is definitely the best diet sweetener so far
QFE. Diet Coke w/Splenda is my drink of choice now, I think it's far supperior to regular diet coke. I have no idea why it's not catching on but they're getting plenty of my business.
As for artificial sweetners, you really don't get used to them as much as you get accustomed to not consumeing sugar it'self. I for one have lost my sweet tooth almost entirely now, only able to consume things like honey and (real) maple syrup now without spazzing out. Even really good deserts like cheese cake can't be too rich else I can't eat it now, it just doesn't taste good.
It's probably not healthy, but then again... My sugar intake, err the lack thereof, allows for massive beer drinkage without much overall weight gain. I say it's a fair trade.
-Duff
Just so the other voice is heard, it's not any different than Muslim's using Jihad (holy war) as an excuse to kill Christians and Jews. I have a hard time believing that the koran justifies violence, military service, and the like...
I'm not hear to flame or to otherwise support Christianity (of which I'm a card carrying believer), I'm just here to point out that Muslims, Jews, and other religions suffer from the same hypocrisy... Don't just single out the Christians in this endeavor. I'm sure the other religions of the world would have just as much opposition to offer to being permanently marked.
-Duff
Wow is my life now. I work, sleep(badly), eat, poop, and exist to play WoW. I often wonder if everyone is as consumed by it as I am. Then another red dot pops up and I kill and forget my train of thought...
:-)
For the single, White, Male, no-kids, slightly overweight, woman hateing, computer dorks of the world, this is our only and best outlet. I suppose if I didn't hate women (or was gay or something) that might be different, but I'm a firm believer in learning from your mistakes. I've made two of them thus far, and managed to get out of it without kids. I consider myself lucky to only be addicted to WoW in my post relationship life. I mean there are far more potent drugs out there to ease the pain.
So say what you want, but WoW is a perfectly fine way to passify a generation of lost men who have, no abor social entanglements...
-Duff
Haha, I was waiting for that response. My Ex-Girlfriend used to come over to my house once a week and burn her shreadings... I thought she was paranoid and wierd until I got some odd charges on a Credit Card. Now I do the same. Plus fire is kewl.
Best investment people can make now days is an industrial shreader that can handle a full envelope of junk mail, and a fireplace to reduce it down to ash...
-Duff
Yeah, it does. And I have a raid tonight so screw going out. I never really considered the whole retirement at 45 thing either. I probably ought to look into that since I have alot of cash just sitting around not doing anything. *shrug*
:-) Better get it while the gettings good (Read: not taxed).
then again, Maybe my WoW assetts will allow me to retire @ 40.
-Duff
Ouch... That's reality for ya... I subscribe to the parrents philosophy, in that I don't spend my money on stuff that seems stupid to me. I don't have fancy cars, big TV's, fast women, etc... It's just me, my 1500 sqft house, my 2 paid for (old) cars, and about $500 in rolling debt on my CC for groceries and such each month. (Read: I'm single with no life and addicted to WoW...)
And I was all happy that others exitsted that believed like I did, until you pointed out how senseless it is to save and be the diligent little ant... I Guess I'm going out tonight. Woohaw...
-Duff
Also, I have an issue with those who wish to push their tollerance on to me by force. Watching homosexual behavior makes me vommit. So does watching people inject drugs (needles). I don't differentiate between the two.
Both are behaviors that I find repulsive and don't want to see. Granted, I'd draw the line at drafting laws to prevent the behaviors altogether, but within the context of public consumption, I'd sure as hell support legislation that helps me not vomit in public.
Call me what you will, but I know what I like, what I don't like, and don't want to have to like. And voteing on those principals doesn't make me feel a single bit guilty for anyone. After all, this is a democracy and I vote my own opinions...
-Duff
Is premarital sex immoral? I did it, and I don't think it is. Maybe according to Christianity, since the Bible does say it is immoral, but I am atheist. Your morals don't apply to me. I'll take my video games and movies with sex and violence, Christian fundamentalists can go to hell.
:-)
LOL... When you're in Oklahoma, you can take your Atheist views and go to hell as well. Since when did Atheist's become so self-righteous??? You're starting to sound christian.
Seriously, YOu have no more right to shove video games with violence and sexual content down my throat than I do to prevent you from partakeing in your unholy ways... To imply as much makes you every bit as bad as those with which you attempt to repress.
-Duff
Bzzt. Wrong. There is no law against a 10 year old going to see an R-Rated movie. There is no law against a 10 year old buying said movie on DVD - unrated version even.
Are you sure? I've witnessed first hand checkers at target refuseing to sell movies to underage kids siteing that it was illegal. While I understand that this does not make it true, I've also seen kids get turned away from movie theatres.
This of course being within the state of Oklahoma, which is a fact that's getting lost in the shuffle. I'll do some due dilligence on this tonight, but I honestly think that oklahoma state law prohibits the sale of rated "R" material to those under 18 unless escorted by an adult. Meaning that if you are age 16, and have a 21 year old adult with you, you're fine. But you cannot go alone at 16. This is what I've observed here my whole life, and saying that it's not illegal goes against everything I've experienced in 30 years here.
Like I said, I'll do some due dilligence and check back in. I do however, believe that oklahoma state law makes it illegal to sell certian IP's to minors (movies, porn, etc...)
-Duff