skydiver30960

What was the situation with the teams doing "door to door" searches? I've heard mention of teams clearing homes room by room. Were the teams just knocking on doors and "hey is everything OK?" and moving on unless the home owner wanted their place checked out? Or was it really a "we're coming in and you can't say no" kind of thing? Elvisio "coming back to the high points" Rodriguez

My wife showed me this pic on her phone last night. If it IS of the subject, and not some mis-appropriated pic, it's very interesting to me. Specifically, the blue thing in the hands of the guy at his head is a King Airway. Without going into too much medical-speak, it's used to maintain a patient's airway when they aren't able to do it themselves and when they have no gag reflex. SO, to the first order of approximation, at the time this picture is taken, that dude is closer to dead than he is alive. Elvisio "King airways are sweet" Rodriguez

What's HIT? ELvisio "listening and learning" Rodriguez

Now that's just racist, What they ever do to you. They keep forgetting to make that left turn at Albuquerque. Elvisio "what a maroon" Rodriguez

Not sure, but I DO understand that it's used much in the same way that people use "no offense, but" (followed by something offensive) and "I don't mean to complain, but..." (followed by something bitchy). In other words, someone says it to imply less than complete generalization, then generalizes completely. Elvisio "just an observation" Rodriguez

I fail to see the problem: they were going to a tropical island. They were going to go to the beach anyhow. They just got there a bit sooner than they planned. Sounds like a win-win to me. Elvisio "surf's up" Rodriguez

NCAA tourney is over... no college or NFL football until fall... too early to care about baseball... nobody in Arizona gives a damn about hockey ()... pro basketball is only a marginal threat... So no promises yet but there's hope for sure! Elvisio "fact finder" Rodriguez

I haven't been yet, but have been looking for an excuse! Rocks and Ropes in Tucson (they have a couple locations) gets really good reviews. Elvisio "hells yeah!" Rodriguez

...that clicking on "Speaker's Corner" seems to imbue the clicker with the ability to generalize broadly and make sweeping judgements on huge portions of the national populace, right from the comfort of their own couch? Elvisio "it DOES go both ways " Rodriguez

Er, what? The gist, as I take it, is that the prosecution is admitting they lost the case, but has right to appeal. AND, it seems that (probably due to his being a foreign national or just an element of UAE law) that the MD is being held pending appeal rather than released on bond. Elvisio "big money, big risks" Rodriguez

This. I HATE those commercials. The people taking the "deals" they're offering have no idea how badly they're being screwed. WRT the OP: My wife and I sat down a couple weeks ago for a "retirement tune-up" with "our guy" and the number that we were throwing around for the TWO of us, assuming I retire at 63 and she at 60 (I'm a cradle-robber ) was $3M. That assumed average life expectancy for both of us and a 4% annual draw-down on principle. HOWEVER, this also assumed we'd be getting Social Security benefits. Even as we sat there, we all agreed this was a hopeless assumption, and have made changes to our profile. Elvisio "we're boned anyhow" Rodriguez

They help keep the loads turning, then get out early so the rest of us have more room on the ride to altitude. What's not to love? Hmmm.... totally separate from our love for hop and poppers, maybe we should help ourselves out and implement a mandatory punitive Hop n Pop statute: -Fart on the plane or wear too much fucking Axe body spray? Hop/Pop, asshole. -Make us all sit in the sun and bake on the tarmac while you "run" slower than I walk to get to the tram because you couldn't be bothered to listen to the call? Hop/pop. -Slow the loading process becausee you simply can't seem to grip the idea that there cannot be empty seatbelts between you and the guy who sat down before you? Hop/pop. Elvisio "judge, jury, executioner" Rodriguez

Elvisio "It's just two extra clicks, people" Rodriguez

Sounds like a recipe for a tilt if I ever heard one. Elvisio "that, or you're doing it very very very wrong" Rodriguez

Actually, I will disagree. The suffusion of readily accessible and sometimes even clandestine photo and video cameras has killed the party scene at boogies and parties. Elvisio "who needs proof when you're in denial" Rodriguez

I would agree with one addition: you, your carry-ons, and your checked baggage go on the scale. THEN, they just consider your body weight and if you weigh more than a certain amount (275? 300?) you automatically get a second seat assigned to you so that you aren't spilling over the armrest into the seats of the poor souls next to you. AND: boarding order will be set based on the total weight of carry-on baggage you have. If you're going to be hauling an obviously-oversized roller bag, jacket, backpack, purse, and fast food onto the plane with you, then get thee behind me. Let me and my one legal-sized carry-on get settled, and then you can fight it out with all the other arses who were too lazy to check a bag. Elvisio "wide of shoulder, narrow of ass" Rodriguez

Somebody PLEASE tell me I'm not the only skydiver on this site who was wondering who the hell Prince Rupert was, and what the hell he was doing in freefall at 130,000 feet per second. Elvisio "especially after I converted that to mph" Rodriguez

My first guess was "gang initiation" but I'm not sure it fits with the small town where it took place. That being said, gangs are everywhere... Elvisio "not sure, still reading" Rodriguez

"suspected drunk driver?" "allegedly drunk?" Yeah, I think we can drop the ambiguity on this one. Elvisio "partying like his namesake, apparently" Rodriguez

I hit a deer on the way to my first dropzone in Kentucky. Dented quarter panel, DESTROYED windshield, one dead deer. On arriving to the DZ I told one of the long-timers there about it, and his eyes got HUGE. We rolled back out to the interstate and he gutted it right there. The deer went in the bed of his pickup, and was conveyed to his house where another jumper and him processed it. The shoulder that took most of the impact on the deer couldn't be used, but the other three quarters were good to go. That night we enjoyed deer tenderloin on the grill. Revenge never tasted so sweet. Funny bit: a couple weeks later I asked my buddy if he had any of that deer left and he said "yeah, I have one of the legs left in the freezer." When I asked him for some he said "no, I mean THE WHOLE LEG is in my freezer." Oh. Well, never mind. Elvisio "Kentucky will always be with me now" Rodriguez

Awesome! I've just started taking bagpipe lessons; I know it's a process of years and years but so far I'm having a fun (and very very humbling) time with it. Elvisio "is that the chanter or did I just sit on the cat?" Rodriguez

To quote my good friend Anillos Rodriguez: If you're naked, you're at the doctor's office; If you're nude, it's art; If you're NEKID, then mischief is afoot! Elvisio "setting the record straight" Rodriguez

I dunno crap about VWs but spend a lot of time dealing with my Jeep Wrangler, and spend a decent amount of time on a Jeep forum. Based on what you're describing my first guess would be fuel pump. On Jeeps, CPS issues usually present themselves on an initial startup, not while driving. EDIT: I lost a fuel pump on a Chevy Tahoe in EXACTLY the same way, making a turn and everything. Lucky enough to get it started again and limp into a parking lot a couple blocks away, then it was all over. Admittedly, this may also be part of the reason I would guess fuel pump, just the familiarity of the story. ANOTHER EDIT: I also think that in a CPS failure it won't even crank. Elvisio "my two cents, worth less than that" Rodriguez

I think both points are right. The Golden Knights are, for the overwhelming majority of those with any concern for the U.S. military, public relations fluff worthy of cutting from the budget. We (our very small community) feel the pain because we know them and share their passion. OTOH, I agree with the sentiment posted here that in a lot of other cases, military tuition assistance for example, the cuts have been placed to cause ire in the public rather than trim pork. Elvisio "know a lot of pissed off servicemembers" Rodriguez

I was led to this train of thought by another thread here and ended up spending an evening on youtube watching people stand up to border patrol officers at checkpoints, all being checkpoints near my home, some of which I've been through myself. The only concern I have with it is the issue of "probable cause." All you need is one officer who has had a bad day, is sick of people jerking him around while he's just trying to move traffic. He decides he's had enough, and that he's going to teach YOU a lesson. "Oh, gee, you know what? The drug dog just "hit" on your car." Then, if he really wants to ruin you and manages to drop/"find" something he brought with him to the now-"legal" search... your life is ruined (mine would be, anyhow) when you originally had done nothing wrong other than try to exercise your rights. I know we have a lot of good LEOs on here like AD. I know the bad guys are not the majority. I know that regardless of whether or not the searches are Constitutional, that the majority of the officers involved just want to do their part and help us be safe. Unfortunately crooked officers, though rare, are a big wildcard in this game... Elvisio "nervous in the service" Rodriguez