LyraM45

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Everything posted by LyraM45

  1. LyraM45

    fs8

  2. LyraM45

    fs9

  3. I am surprised no bull stories yet. It's always all fun and games until somebody gets hurt on the mechanical bull at the boogie party! Seen that one quite a few times! Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  4. This response wins dz.com today! Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  5. Eeehhhhh....not exactly. If, again, she didn't look down her nose at others and preach about pro life this and that, then maybe, but since she does, then similar to the situation in my last reply, she gets the stink eye still for it. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  6. Normally it isn't a big deal. If I got knocked up before I got married, nobody would give a shit. But then again... I am not in the public spotlight making my money on giving abstinence speeches and looking down my nose at people who chose to not practice abstinence. If I did, I can guarantee you I would be getting the stink eye. So, she's getting the stink eye, and rightly so. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  7. Pretty much why I only pop in and out of SC now and then. I've been sick of it for too long. I have to say, this really is a fail in terms of even stretching to attach the liberal broad brush to this incident. Same if somebody tried to paint it as a conservative issue. Pretty lame. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  8. I've seen quite a few people play the "these businesses are being destroyed for no reason!" argument. It's quite cheeky. Here is the deal-- you may argue that these businesses have freedom of association, right? Serve who they want and operate how they want. Decisions come with consequences, and all because you have the legal right to do something (IE: these businesses have a right to refuse service to gay customers thanks to the religious liberty law), does not always make it the right thing to do. So, operate your business how you see fit, but your decisions will effect your business. If I run a diner and don't want to open on the weekends, then I can't complain when I get pissed off customers who will avoid my business all together because I am not open to them on the weekends when they really want to come in. If you don't want to serve gay customers, then be prepared for some customers to take issue with that. Your business decisions will have reactions from customers. For this latest snafu, you legally are allowed to do this, but it won't save you from the court of public (customer) opinion. And in the age of internet and over the top media, word can spread fast. As for the death threats, this easily happens on both sides of the issue-- and when it does, I feel like it's the minority in terms of the reaction. Doesn't make it right on either side, but I would say the numbers are most definitely a tiny minority. Rather, most people are just choosing to not frequent that business, and are vocal about their choice and rallying with others who believe the same. Simple action and reaction. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  9. I feel like this conversation always ends up in the same place with regards to gay marriage. RE: Kids can now marry kids, and adults can now marry kids. Apples and oranges here. The argument is if two consenting ADULTS can marry. RE: people can now marry their dog. Again, the argument is if two consenting ADULTS (humans who are able to speak and consent) can marry. As for polygamist? Sure, let them be recognized. It will take a restructuring of the government rights/benefits/etc (IE: taxes, rights to decisions about the husbands/wives estate, power of medical decisions, etc) that come along with marriage, but as far as I am concerned, that is consenting adults doing what they please and it's none of my business. As others have said, as long as government is involved, then all of the legal things associated with marriage/union has to be equal across the board for all consenting adult citizens of this country. This has nothing to do with spiritual union, and everything to do with the legal aspects of it. If government didn't have their hands in the marriage business, then this wouldn't even need to be discussed. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  10. What? That's not how saturation works. If the atmosphere was saturated with CO2 you couldn't add more CO2 to it. He said it was saturated-- not fully saturated. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  11. The "blob" is just a term that ended up getting coined out of this. Yes, the waters off the coast have been a few degrees warmer this year. The NWS office I work for is responsible for this forecast area, and we've been posting about warmer sea surface temperatures all winter. Has that been the all empowering drive on the weather though? I'd say it's influenced it of course, especially on a local level, but the main driving factor here is the stubborn ridging we've seen the last few winters, blocking all of the pacific storms well to the north. Associated with the high pressure has been abnormally drier conditions and warmer temps across the region. We've had a record breaking season here in CA in terms of temperatures, lack of rain, and lack of snow pack. The snow pack is only around 7% of normal right now, the lowest in recorded history. The sea surface temperatures should see a swing back to cooler temps. April upwelling is already starting, which ushers us in to our marine stratus season which lasts from May-Oct. As for the weather patters across the country, that also has more to do with the blocking ridge in place over the east pac and west coast-- a huge ridge to the west is usually going to dip down in to a persistent long wave trof to the east, which is associated with the colder polar air and rain/snow along the frontal boundaries that come out of it (and for some reason, this polar vortex term has been coined and latched on to for this the last few seasons). I would say it's not the "blob" that caused the changes with everything, but yet the stagnant ridge that caused the blob and the pattern changes across the west and all of the conus. We really need to get that ridge out of here.... it's kicked our asses out here the last 4 years, and we can't take another low snowpack/water season next year. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  12. I thought a lot about this topic with regards to the whole Indiana thing that just blew up. I'd be willing to bet my life savings that the same businesses who were ready to turn away gay customers based on religious premise were not ready to turn away adulterers, people who have had premarital sex, people who have been divorced, etc. If you are going to rule with an iron fist based on religious reasoning, then do it equally across the board. It's then that I would have a little more respect for religious freedom reasoning instead of just religious freedom as an excuse to exclude a class of people you don't like. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  13. Skydive California is super close to you-- new DZ up in the Tracy area. Check them out. Would be really convenient to go get current there. Byron, Lodi, and Davis are all not much further. Byron is probably next closest. I pop back and forth between Byron, Davis, and Skydive Cal. I don't frequent Lodi because that is my choice as a licensed jumper, but as a licensed jumper you can formulate your own opinion based off of what you heard and how you feel after you visit. Different strokes for different folks there. Out of the bunch though, Davis is kind of where its at in terms of classic scene on the weekends: good lift capacity, good facilities, camping, bonfires, lots of fun jumpers, LO's, etc. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  14. What are they asking for that is special treatment? Any group who asks for special protections under law So as a woman, I am looking for special treatment because there are laws saying I have to be treated the same as a man? I'm asking for special treatment to be allowed to vote like a man votes? Special treatment for me would be you are asking for something.... well, special. In this case, nobody is asking for anything special/different/above and beyond. Just the same as what others are getting. How is that special? I'll ask again: What are they asking for that is special? That is different than what anybody else gets? Rush-- I think my response and question here got lost in the mix, so I just wanted to bump this back to the top of this thread. Was wondering what your thoughts were. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  15. That is exactly it. How far would it go? Too much grey area. I could deny service to a black person because I said the flying spaghetti monster said I could, right? I am evoking a little ridiculousness there on purpose, but then again that scenario is not totally out of the question if you think about it. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  16. Yep, I had the same troubles, so I def get where you're coming from. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  17. I was about to ask the same questions as Jimmy-- is your son in college? If yes, then I agree with him that he should be able to compete with the rest of the collegiates. I too was a collegiate competitor. I started the skydiving club at my school, which was an enormous task. It took me about 1.5 years of jumping through hoops and red tape to finally allow the school to recognize us as a club. I got to compete in 2006, and like Jimmy, it was really a race to see who could be first behind any of the army or airforce collegians. So, it's tough to get a club going (for lots of reasons, including the insurance hassle and everything else), then it's tough to fund the club. College kids are poor. At today's collegiates, you are not going to even compare to the students from the army and air force academy's who get their gear, jumps, training, and wind tunnel time covered. Sometimes that can be a bummer to some of the other competitors knowing that you are just no match, but I looked at it as going out and having fun anyway. There are a lot of forces at play for the dwindling numbers at collegiates. Question is, how do you fix that? Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  18. The idea of the government creating a list of events and items that qualify as "religious enough to refuse" sounds like a cure much worse than the disease. I think a simpler test is that if you have to use an adjective before the item or event when stating your refusal, and that adjective is a protected class, then it's illegal. A guy walks into a deli and says, "I'd like to cater my son's bar mitzvah with French dip sandwiches." Deli owner says, "Sorry, we don't serve jus." Personally I agree with you 100%, but I am just playing devils advocate and saying if there is going to be a law, how could it possibly be made clearer where everybody understands it tries to satisfy both groups? I don't think it can exist, but just trying to think *if* here I guess. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  19. What are they asking for that is special treatment? Any group who asks for special protections under law So as a woman, I am looking for special treatment because there are laws saying I have to be treated the same as a man? I'm asking for special treatment to be allowed to vote like a man votes? Special treatment for me would be you are asking for something.... well, special. In this case, nobody is asking for anything special/different/above and beyond. Just the same as what others are getting. How is that special? I'll ask again: What are they asking for that is special? That is different than what anybody else gets? Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  20. The pizza place getting funds raised just shows the natural action/reaction to things. A business doesn't want to serve gays? Fine. Get ready for a reaction to that that both supports your business practice and doesn't support your business practice. In this case, people spoke out against it, and they also supported it by speaking out and having the funds raised. Doesn't mean that people are tired of it, just the natural course of action/reaction to this. Of course there are going to be people that support it, just like they're are going to be people against it and will vote with their feet, wallets, and word of mouth. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  21. What are they asking for that is special treatment? Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  22. Is this the question you're waiting to be answered? I think people's responses would be pretty clear. Mine would be two takes: 1.) if the status quo is nobody can be denied service based on race/religion/creed/sex/sexual orientation, then they would have to provide service to whomever they didn't agree with, which in this case is the gay photographers taking the job of photographing the straight couple who doesn't approve of their lifestyle. or 2.) If laws are in place that say you have to serve a gay couple who walks in to your restaurant for food, but allows you do deny service for their wedding since that then becomes a religious issue (IE: you're OK serving gay people, but not for their union which is where you have the issue based on your religious beliefs), then you are allowed to deny service for the wedding (in this case, deny taking the pictures of the straight couple), because the law would allow people to do that. So, I think this is where the grey area is. OK, you have to serve the gay guy that walks in to your bake shop. If he orders a slice of cake to eat there, take home, have for a birthday, etc. But when it comes to a wedding, which can be closely tied to religious beliefs, can they deny that? Then the argument comes down to picking and choosing and how far can you take the pick and choose? Can the baker now deny service for just the guy walking in and wanting a slice of cake to eat? Or just deny it for the one event that is particularly tied to religious beliefs? Regardless, if the law allows take 1 or 2 from me, then all parties should be allowed to do what they want within the law based on their religious beliefs. Maybe the law needs to be clearer? IE: you are allowed to deny service for a religious ceremony like a wedding, but otherwise you have to serve everybody equally? Lay out in exact detail what services fall under the law instead of letting people run rampant with it, denying even the most basic of services, and do what they want because " 'merica! Religion!" Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  23. I don't think they're getting a pass. How many muslim bakeries do you think are out there? I'm not saying they're not denying service, but naturally it's happening less there as there are WAY less muslim bakeries for this to happen at. Chances are, it hasn't even happened at a muslim bakery (outside of this video set up, which is heavily edited to slant towards the coverage they needed, btw. I would like to see the unedited video, as there are already reports that the editing made this video skewed). I think if this started happening at as many muslim bakeries as christian, it would be getting the same reaction/attention. It's just as wrong. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  24. I put my gear in a rolling bag-- suits, alti, etc, too. Don't carry it in the open for all the reasons everybody else already listed. You want to get through security unnoticed. I don't want to be bothered, so I'm not going to carry my rig through on my back like "LOOK AT ME!!!! WWWWEEEEE!!!!!" Roller bag and no issues here.... unless I am drinking in the airport bar and I'm the last one on the flight and forced to gate check it, but then I brought that on myself I guess Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)
  25. Jumpsuit and a helmet. Both used if you can swing it. Stalk the classifieds and the skydiving gear for sale fb group and see what you can scrounge up. I would do another 100 jumps before you get your gear. Find a canopy that you'll settle in to and get a rig that is sized for the gear you'll want to be on for a little while. I rented/borrowed until I got down off of my student 190's and knew I could get a container for a 150 and eventually go down to a 135 in it. Now I'm on the 135 for the long haul and know I'll get the most out of my custom gear purchase for a long time to come. If you want the rig now, I would go used on that too. Jump the crap out of it and if you want to downsize still, then resell that and look for your custom gear you'll be in for a long time to get the most out of what you'll spend for it. Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)