DanG

Oh really? How exactly do you go out and see that? - Dan G

Who's going to make more money: a smart trade school grad with drive and determination, or a 4 year college grad with drive and determination? You are trying to compare lazy college grads to self-motivating trade school grads. It's not a fair comparison. There's no question that getting a college degree will, all other things being equal, lead to a better financial outcome. That being said, getting a college degree only makes sense if you want to work in the field you studied. If you want to be a mechanic, a college degree would be a waste of time and money. But if you want to be a research scientist it doesn't make much sense to go to air conditioner repair school. We force way too many kids onto a college path that don't need or want to go to college. I would love to see an expansion of trade schools in the US, including trade schools that teach high tech trades like CNC machining and welding, or even robotics. - Dan G

Sure. Don't forget to tell Hillary, Obama, and the Central Park Five. - Dan G

Those were corrected by processes inherent in a free and unbiased media. Just as the current rash of pro-Trump fake news is being outed. It is not the media's fault that certain segments of the population are too stupid or willfully ignorant to realize that they have been duped, even when the evidence is shown to them. - Dan G

Seriously? Are you not aware that Ivanka was present during Trump's closed door meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister? - Dan G

Fake news is so much better than real news. I think I'm going to an all fake news diet. - Dan G

Tough question to answer, since that didn't happen. Look people, a strawman argument in SC! No way! - Dan G

Prison and the death penalty are about both removing a threat and punishing behavior that society deems worthy of punishment. Roof's actions are deserving of punishment. Do you disagree that he should be punished? Going down your apparent path, anything short of putting him up at Club Med (removed from society) is torture. That's not a very realistic position. - Dan G

Who said anything about torture? I think being locked up is worse than death. If you disagree that's fine, but if being locked up is torture than we're going to need to make some serious changes to our criminal justice system. - Dan G

Way back in the day a friend of my wife was held up. This guy was a weightlifter and personal trainer, big dude. He got robbed at gunpoint on one end of the National Mall in DC. Someone else tried to rob him again at the other end of the Mall. He was like, "I already gave my stuff to the last guy." - Dan G

If anyone deserves the worst punishment we can mete, it's Roof. That being said, I don't think he should get the death penalty because I think the death penalty is bad public policy. Besides, he's 22. What's worse, a minute of potential agony, or 50+ years locked up in essentially solitary confinement like the animal he is? - Dan G

Both sides have been name calling each other since language was invented. The hypocrisy is when one side says that they only name call because the other side did it first. Bullshit. Both sides act like children, and neither one started it. - Dan G

What amazes me is that a 13mp still camera that takes 4k video is considered "medium-quality". 15 years ago when I bought my first digital SLR it was 8mp with no video capability and I thought I was the hot shit. - Dan G

And now you're just used to it? - Dan G

You know, it's possible that they are both telling the truth and making Trump look bad. These two things are not mutually exclusive. - Dan G

I bought a Brother multi-function printer recently. Very easy setup, even works well with my iPad over my wireless network. It has a document feeder, so scanning multi-page documents is easy. I don't remember the model number, but it was the cheapest one they had at Best Buy. I was skeptical because of the low cost (~$100) but I've been happy so far. - Dan G

I'm not a base jumper, but that seems pretty at odds with what Carl Boenish was up to in the 70s. Did the mindset change after his passing? - Dan G

I'll give anyone $10,000 if they can prove to me that the sky is blue. - Dan G

You missed Linda McMahon, SBA Administrator nominee. With her husband they were likely the single largest donors to pro-Trump SuperPACs. - Dan G

rushmc is right! The media is biased. It takes 15 paragraphs until CBS mentions this terrorist's religion: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pizzagate-shooting-suspect-edgar-maddison-welch-intel-wasnt-100-percent/ Wake up people! If we don't name the enemy we can't fight them. - Dan G

Goes right along with that old adage about the beauty of democracy: One acre, one vote. - Dan G

Insurance was certainly part of it. Licensing was another part. If someone shows up with a USPA license you can be reasonably assured they have received at least the basic training and demonstrated some proficiency. Without some license (USPA or foreign) it is very hard to determine if someone is competent or not. As far as the personal liability insurance question, I think the answer would be maybe. The problem with personal policies is that it is very hard for the layman to determine what is and isn't covered. I suppose if the jumper had a coverage document that specifically stated that skydiving related claims would be covered, then it would be acceptable. One of the advantages of USPA membership is that all the manifest worker has to do is look at a single piece of paper (the USPA license) to know that the person in front of them is insured and trained. Without it, you ask the DZ to do a bunch of paperwork and still potentially expose themselves if the jumper turns out to be a liar. I don't think there are any, but I was never an Instructor. What does that have to do with my statements about the advantages of USPA membership? - Dan G

Well, back when I helped run a DZ we would definitely have still required USPA membership if only for the liability insurance. We got stuck with a bill after a visiting jumper swore up and down that he'd renewed his membership (the internet was out so we couldn't check) and we let him jump. He landed on a spectator's car in the parking lot and then high tailed it out of there. Of course he had lied about his membership. I'm pretty sure we would have also required USPA rated instructors, so I doubt anyone, staff or fun jumpers, would have been allowed to not be USPA members. - Dan G

The Amish don't have as low a carbon footprint as many believe. They use machines, just indirectly. I stopped by my local winery recently and there was an Amish man loading up a car in the parking lot. I asked about it inside and they told me he comes down from Pennsylvania (two hours away) to sell his cheese to local businesses. How does he do that? He doesn't drive the car, he just rides in it. He hires a non-Amsh man to drive him around. - Dan G

You're right. Trump won the election. No question. But he doesn't have the right to claim he has a popular mandate. He won, but he didn't do so because most of the country agrees with him. - Dan G