Nightingale

um.... sand is NOT a lubricant.* I would add "hayloft" to the list. My college roommate was about eaten to death by fleas during a tryst in a hayloft. That just doesn't sound romantic to me. *I do not know this from personal experience, but I am passing on wisdom passed to me by others who have actually tried it, and the experiences seem to be almost universally bad.

This is the lady who painted my helmet. She did a fabulous job and it was worth every penny I paid her. http://www.pantagruel.net/art/gallery2/main.php

Anyone know what the FAA says for pilots? That might be a good guideline.

Have you donated before? The few times I have, I felt awful for about a week. Tired, no energy. Not sure if it had to do with being a dancer/martial artist and everything I was putting my body through at the time with training (no, I wasn't anemic), but there's no way I would've gotten on a plane to go skydiving the day after. Most of my friends felt just fine, though.

Head south. Don't miss New Orleans and Key West. Take the Haunted History tours.

I want pictures of it next to you! LOL. It's also $690. I think I'll buy a $60 LED lightbulb and put it in a regular lamp, cool as that lamp is.

Well, we all share one office, and nobody's got sunlight, and that's even assuming I could pin down the exact trigger, if it's environmental. If it's something coming off the carpet, moving offices wouldn't help. I'm going to try the desk lamp thing first. That is a cool lamp, Turtle!

im curious, why is that? some people can "see" or their brain can "see" the flicker at 60Hz if you have ever been in a room that has a ceiling fan hung below a light fixture then you have seen somehting similar to what they see, the constant flicker is very irritating My only options for this monitor are 60hz or 59hz. Should I change it to 59?

I'm in the middle of a clinical trial, so I've got a really detailed headache record. But, if it is the environment, I'm not sure there's anything I can do about it.

I have one of the new flat-screen monitors, and my glasses are up to date. I'm not getting tension headaches, like people get from tired eyes. I'm getting migraines (pain on one side of the head, nausea, light sensitivity, cured with meds like imitrex, etc) that can be triggered by flashing or flickering lights, sometimes whether the flicker is a visible one or not. Unfortunately, I work for the government, and getting them to replace the ballasts in the ceiling light fixtures around my desk would be so much bureaucratic red tape and triplicate forms that it'll be months before it ever happens, and that's only IF there's an approved vendor for the ballasts and the work, and money to do it and there isn't any. So, I'm hoping to find an easier solution and just drown out the flicker with something that doesn't flicker at all.

Anyone have any info on LED lightbulbs? I get migraines, and they're sometimes triggered by fluorescent lights. Since I switched jobs, I've noticed I'm getting headaches in the afternoons, and since, after examining my headache diary, there aren't any other trigger factors that make any sense, I think it's that I don't have a window to add natural light. My office has the old style ceiling long tube fluorescents. So, I was thinking of adding a desk lamp with an LED bulb on the shelf above my desk to try to cut down on the effects of the fluorescent light flicker. So, what I need to know is: 1. Do LEDs flicker like fluorescent lights, or are they more of a constant light, like incandescent bulbs? 2. Where is a good place to buy an LED bulb that can fit into a standard light bulb socket? 3. Do they make LED bulbs that are frosted, so you're not staring right into an overly bright lightbulb?

Go to school. The sky isn't going anywhere.

A couple years ago, I got a necklace at a boogie (no, don't remember which one) that had a miniature closing pin charm (about 1/4 the size of a regular closing pin) and some garnet beads on a silver colored wire. I loved the tiny closing pin, because it was still recognizable to skydivers, but it was tiny and professional looking, so I could wear it at work with my suits. I've lost it somewhere and would love to get another one. Anyone have any idea who made these necklaces or where I could find something similar?

The dog believes I am god and the benevolent provider of treats and dog food and am to be worshiped adoringly. The cat believes that I stand between him and the cat food and jealously ration the catnip, and he would murder all of us humans in our sleep if only he could figure out how to work a can opener. As he cannot work the can opener, he settles for biting my toes when I am sleeping as a subtle reminder of the havoc he could wreak if he really wanted to. And then he purrs and pretends to be a sweet kitty, hoping I will forget that he's up to something. He then attempts to remind me that cats are superior to dogs, and far more intelligent, because after all, you've never seen a team of cats get roped into pulling a sled, have you?

Washington was a deist, and deists do believe in a higher power. Here's some more sources for you: I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe that the path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction. To this consideration we ought to ascribe the absence of any regulation, respecting religion, from the Magna-Charta of our country. -- George Washington, responding to a group of clergymen who complained that the Constitution lacked mention of Jesus Christ, in 1789, Papers, Presidential Series, 4:274, the "Magna-Charta" here refers to the proposed United States Constitution The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. -- George Washington, letter to the congregation of Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island, August, 1790, in Anson Phelps Stokes, Church and State in the United States, Vol 1. p. 862 Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society. -- George Washington, letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792, quoted from Albert J Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom, also James A Haught, 2000 Years of Disbelief We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition ... In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States. -- George Washington, letter to the members of the New Church in Baltimore, January 27, 1793, in Anson Phelps Stokes, Church and State in the United States, Vol 1. p. 497, quoted from Albert J Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom If they are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa, or Europe. They may be Mohometans, Jews or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists. -- George Washington, letter to Tench Tilghman asking him to secure a carpenter and a bricklayer for his Mount Vernon estate, March 24, 1784, in Paul F Boller, George Washington & Religion (1963) p. 118, quoted from Ed and Michael Buckner, "Quotations that Support the Separation of State and Church" Among many other weighty objections to the Measure, it has been suggested, that it has a tendency to introduce religious disputes into the Army, which above all things should be avoided, and in many instances would compel men to a mode of Worship which they do not profess. -- George Washington, to John Hancock, then president of Congress, expressing opposition to a congressional plan to appoint brigade chaplains in the Continental Army (1777), quoted from a letter to Cliff Walker from Doug Harper (2002) I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable Asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong. -- George Washington, letter to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp, a Mennonite minister, May 28, 1788, in Paul F Boller, George Washington & Religion (1963) p. 118, quoted from Ed and Michael Buckner, "Quotations that Support the Separation of State and Church" "Dr. Rush told me (he had it from Asa Green) that when the clergy addressed General Washington, on his departure from the government, it was observed in their consultation that he had never, on any occasion, said a word to the public which showed a belief in the Christian religion, and they thought they should so pen their address as to force him at length to disclose publicly whether he was a Christian or not. However, he observed, the old fox was too cunning for them. He answered every article of their address particularly, except that, which he passed over without notice." -- Thomas Jefferson, quoted from Jefferson's Works, Vol. iv., p. 572. (Asa Green "was probably the Reverend Ashbel Green, who was chaplain to congress during Washington's administration." -- Farrell Till in "The Christian Nation Myth.") "I know that Gouverneur Morris, who claimed to be in his secrets, and believed himself to be so, has often told me that General Washington believed no more in that system [Christianity] than he did." -- Thomas Jefferson, in his private journal, February, 1800, quoted from Jefferson's Works, Vol. iv., p. 572 ("Gouverneur Morris was the principal drafter of the Constitution of the United States; he was a member of the Continental Congress, a United States senator from New York, and minister to France. He accepted, to a considerable extent, the skeptical views of French Freethinkers." -- John E Remsberg, Six Historic Americans.) "Sir, Washington was a Deist." -- The Reverend Doctor James Abercrombie, rector of the church Washington had attended with his wife, to The Reverend Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister in Albany, New York, upon Wilson's having inquired of Abercrombie regarding Washington's religious beliefs, quoted from John E Remsberg, Six Historic Americans "With respect to the inquiry you make, I can only state the following facts: that as pastor of the Episcopal Church, observing that, on sacramental Sundays George Washington, immediately after the desk and pulpit services, went out with the greater part of the congregation -- always leaving Mrs. Washington with the other communicants -- she invariably being one -- I considered it my duty, in a sermon on public worship, to state the unhappy tendency of example, particularly of those in elevated stations, who uniformly turned their backs on the Lord's Supper. I acknowledge the remark was intended for the President; and as such he received it. A few days after, in conversation, I believe, with a Senator of the United States, he told me he had dined the day before with the President, who, in the course of conversation at the table, said that, on the previous Sunday, he had received a very just rebuke from the pulpit for always leaving the church before the administration of the sacrament; that he honored the preacher for his integrity and candor; that he had never sufficiently considered the influence of his example, and that he would not again give cause for the repetition of the reproof; and that, as he had never been a communicant, were he to become one then, it would be imputed to an ostentatious display of religious zeal, arising altogether from his elevated station. Accordingly, he never afterwards came on the morning of sacrament Sunday..." -- The Reverend Doctor James Abercrombie, in a letter to a friend in 1833, Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, vol. 5, p. 394, quoted from Franklin Steiner, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents, pp. 25-26 "I have diligently perused every line that Washington ever gave to the public, and I do not find one expression in which he pledges, himself as a believer in Christianity. I think anyone who will candidly do as I have done, will come to the conclusion that he was a Deist and nothing more." -- The Reverend Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister in Albany, New York, in an interview with Mr. Robert Dale Owen written on November 13, 1831, which was publlshed in New York two weeks later, quoted from Franklin Steiner, The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents, pp. 27 "Unlike Thomas Jefferson -- and Thomas Paine, for that matter -- Washington never even got around to recording his belief that Christ was a great ethical teacher. His reticence on the subject was truly remarkable. Washington frequently alluded to Providence in his private correspondence. But the name of Christ, in any correspondence whatsoever, does not appear anywhere in his many letters to friends and associates throughout his life." -- Paul F Boller, George Washington & Religion (1963) pp. 74-75, quoted from Ed and Michael Buckner, "Quotations that Support the Separation of State and Church." "Washington's religious belief was that of the enlightenment: deism. He practically never used the word 'God,' preferring the more impersonal word 'Providence.' How little he visualized Providence in personal form is shown by the fact that he interchangeably applied to that force all three possible pronouns: he, she, and it." -- James Thomas Flexner, in George Washington: Anguish and Farewell (1793-1799) (1972) p. 490, quoted from Ed and Michael Buckner, "Quotations that Support the Separation of State and Church" "The founders of our nation were nearly all Infidels, and that of the presidents who had thus far been elected [Washington; Adams; Jefferson; Madison; Monroe; Adams; Jackson] not a one had professed a belief in Christianity.... "Among all our presidents from Washington downward, not one was a professor of religion, at least not of more than Unitarianism." -- The Reverend Doctor Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister in Albany, New York, in a sermon preached in October, 1831, first sentence quoted in John E Remsberg, Six Historic Americans, second sentence quoted in Paul F Boller, George Washington & Religion, pp. 14-15

The pledge should be inclusive of all Americans, and you do not have to believe in a higher power to be an American, and if you do, you don't have to call it "god". The pledge leaves out those who would say "One Nation, indivisible" or "One Nation, under Yahweh" (or insert name of chosen deity). Christians are really the only ones who use the word "God", capital G. It's a proper name, just like Allah, Yahweh, Heavenly Father, or Jehovah, even though we don't always think of it that way. The pledge was altered specifically to differentiate religious America from non-religious Russia, and by doing so, it leaves out a good chunk of Americans, which is fundamentally wrong, given the first amendment that the federal government isn't supposed to respect ANY religion. Your rights aren't being stepped on, because you can still exercise your faith freely, but the name of your deity doesn't belong in an oath of allegiance to our country, because people who follow a different faith can love America just as much. Looking at the writings of our founding fathers, I think you are probably mistaken with regards to Christian origins of the USA. [N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. - Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779), quoted from Merrill D Peterson, ed., Thomas Jefferson: Writings (1984), p. 347 I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance, or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others. - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Dowse, April 19, 1803 Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. State churches that use government power to support themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of the church tends to make the clergy unresponsive to the people and leads to corruption within religion. Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. We have solved ... the great and interesting question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in government and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion which are the inductions of his own reason and the serious convictions of his own inquiries. - Thomas Jefferson, to the Virginia Baptists (1808). This is his second use of the term "wall of separation," here quoting his own use in the Danbury Baptist letter. This wording was several times upheld by the Supreme Court as an accurate description of the Establishment Clause: Reynolds (98 US at 164, 1879); Everson (330 US at 59, 1947); McCollum (333 US at 232, 1948)" As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries. -Treaty of Tripoli, John Adams, 1796 between the US and Tripoli, sent to the floor of the Senate, June 7, 1797, where it was read aloud in its entirety and unanimously approved. The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature; and if men are now sufficiently enlightened to disabuse themselves of artifice, imposture, hypocrisy, and superstition, they will consider this event as an era in their history.” John Adams, A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America “..and farther, that my indiscrete disputations about religion began to make me pointed at with horror by good people as an infidel or atheist.” -Benjamin Franklin Autobiography, Chapter 2 “Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprize..” -- James Madison, in a letter to William Bradford, April 1,1774

I used to say the pledge as a kid, but I never really thought about what it meant. It was just something I did because everyone else did it, and they were just words that didn't mean anything more than reciting vocabulary words. When I actually thought about what it meant and took a good look at its history, I stopped saying it, because I find it divisive rather than unifying, and I don't feel that our country offers liberty and justice for all, although that's a great goal. I do stand quietly and respectfully while others say it, and try to take the moment to remind myself of my oath to support the Constitution.

It shouldn't be necessary, but obviously, it is. Therefore, I'm seeing this bill as a clarification of Full Faith and Credit, that a license issued by one state to a resident of that state, be it a drivers' license, marriage license, or a CCW/CHL license, should be valid in any other state.

Our team's raised $200 already! Go team!!!!!

So any infringement at all, no matter how intrusive, is okay? If it's not enshrined as a Constitutional right, then the government can do anything they want, without limits? I expected better from you... No, but they're getting warrants and following due process. I don't have a problem with this. I also don't think an officer asking someone to take a breath test when they've got a reasonable suspicion that someone's under the influence is unreasonable.

I have mine hooked in under the sink, so flushing the toilet isn't an issue. Still love it.

Driving isn't a right, it's a privilege. If you're not willing to take a test, take the bus.

Kittens without mom to show them how to get by outdoors are just going to end up hawk lunch. Try asking around to see if anyone's willing to part with a couple of barn cats, bring them over, and let them do their thing. Make sure there's fresh water and put out some kibble so there's easy food (cats will hunt mice whether they're hungry or not, but make sure you bring the kibble back in when they're done, or you'll get uninvited guests) and plant catnip, so you've done what you can to keep them comfy so they won't want to go back to where you got them.

Drove by Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah last week on my way back from Bryce Canyon and thought of Shannon. Best Friends is such a beautiful place! It was the end of the day, so I didn't have time to stop by for a visit, but I will make a point of it next time I'm in Utah, probably in the next month or so. When I got home, I went to www.bestfriends.org and made a donation in her memory. Blue skies, Shannon!

I sent the ACLU back my membership card when they filed their amicus brief in Heller, along with an explanation as to why. Until they revise their statements on their website, I won't support them financially, as there are other organizations that can use my money. That said, I think they do a lot of good supporting other areas of the constitution, and they're doing the right thing in this case.