Scoby

You did, and I somehow skimmed over that to the crap below. My sincerest apologies.

Do you really believe this represents the general viewpoint of the left? Are you willing to fall in with the equivalent nutjobs on the right? Left-wing idealogues like Michael Moore and right wing idealogues like Ann Coulter cancel each other out. Poor reasoning is poor reasoning whether it is "liberal" or "conservative".

It's definitely a positive step that the Cypres is getting new competitors. Wasn't there another unit in Parachustist a few months back, the Mpaad? I've got a Cypres already, so I won't be in the market for a new AAD until 2008. Hopefully by then, these new guys will be tried and true. I'd like to replace it then with something that doesn't need maintenence every four years and a battery every two. I'm looking forward to it!

I used to be a fatass myself and it took something like a year and a half to lose 45 lbs. It's a lot harder to lose it than it is to put it on. I'm actually trying to gain some back now, but as muscle instead of flab. I'm getting there, though it's a slow and arduous process, especially given my disposition to pudge and my love of food. In a weird way, I'm more happy with my physical condition becuase it takes so much effort.

I'm starting to get the idea that the reality distortion field is starting to go away. This administration has been hands down the worst since Nixon, and yet has somehow gotten away with orwellian excesses because of a scared and irrational populace. This idiocy, along with the hamfisted economic policies and even clumsier foreign policies, is lifting the veil covering the bankrupt ideology. America has been fooled by a poseur of the worst kind...a rich brat posing as an everyman, a service dodger posing as a soldier, and a dissembler posing as an truth teller. History will not be kind.

Man, it hasn't been so good for the TT winners recently, with David Jeffries dying in practice and Joey Dunlop not too long ago...

If you only had one nut, would it hang in the center?

Why again is polygamy illegal? Granted, it doesn't seem like a good idea (because by its very nature, some guys do well, and some get nothing), but I'm not sure how it violates anything other than common sense. I say let the mormons do what they want. It's not like most people would want to do it anyway. I think that, in sexual relations, nearly any situation where consent can be freely given should be allowable. Obviously, this really only disallows pedophilia, bestiality, and necrophilia. But that's cool, different strokes and all that.

Why not just have a parallel civil union for homosexuals that is called something other than marriage. Then grant that union all the same rights as marriage. Then declare victory for all and go home.

I'm thinking about getting a second car as a toy once my current car (a '00 Focus ZX3) is paid off. I've been looking at late model used sports cars. Essentially, I can't talk myself into buying a new car, but there are plenty of cars I wanted years ago, but couldn't afford. You can find '98-99 Boxsters for under $20k, '00 S2000s for about the same money, '00 MR2 Spyders for $16k, or '99 Miatas for $11k or so. I can't quite stretch to even a '91 NSX, though...still about $25-30k for a reasonable example. The point is that there are a lot of choice cars available for peanuts because of the glut in the car market.

Go watch Dirty Pretty Things. It is about the lives of illegal immigrants in London. The only actor you might recognize is Audrey Tatou. I really enjoyed it. It was easily the best film I've seen this summer (granted, I've seen a bunch of stinkers).

It was the incident reported on here that made me start thinking about it. However, the slider doesn't readily come down over the toggles (takes a bit of effort), so I'm afraid of popping off a toggle while doing it. The stowed brake lines are the problem, as I have velcro toggles. Can I install bumpers myself? Where do I find them?

I'm a bit confused about what is best to do with my slider. It's a collapsible slider and I have metal links. Generally, I collapse the slider and leave it at the top of the links. I can pull it down over the links, but it stays in place if I don't. I can also pull it down over the toggles before I collapse it, but I'm afraid of popping a toggle off then I do that. Should I collapse it and leave it up? Should I collapse it and pull it down over the toggles? Or should I release the toggles, then pull it down and then collapse it? I asked around and got conflicting answers. Thanks!

Keep in mind that in '93 they made changes the rear suspension geometry. The '91-'92 has a bit of a reputation for snap oversteer. Hold out for the '93 and you'll be happy. It's a great little car. Oh yeah, and you probably want to do something about the 14" rims.

What about schlong or wang or dong or sausage or john thomas or jimmie or johnson or wiener?

I've had something like 18 different roommates over the years. I've lived with some really bizarre individuals. In my entire life, I only lived by myself for one semester in college, and that was only because my roommate never showed up. I just moved in with my fiancee a month ago, and it's pretty great not having roommates anymore.

Actually this is natural, very productive part of human/animal psychology that ensures the continued survival of a species. If you touch the fire once, and it burns you, you don't keep touching every fire you see just because that one might be a nice fire. Learning a lesson from a few bad experiences just keeps you from repeating the experiences. This natural discrimination has been around for Millions of years, Political correctness... what maybe 50? Which one do you think is going to win? And the argument that we are more civilized because we are human is species-centric and untrue. We are still animals defined by the laws of nature/survival. I'm not disagreeing that it is natural to make judgements based on experiences and extrapolating. I'm saying that it is not always correct. If I met people from the south on three occasions and all were racist hicks, I might form the opinion that all southerners are racist hicks. I would be wrong, of course, but it would be natural. A lot of traits that were adaptive in our species' past are maladaptive in modern society. As you said in your previous post, "I have not formed this opinion on a single experience, but on several." Even if it had been on a dozen occasions, or twenty, I would be unimpressed, but several? Come off it. You are capable of better than that.

I think wmw999 was saying that xenophobia stems from that sort of thinking, not that xenophobia is defined as that sort of thinking. Judging a group based on even a number of isolated incidents is not only ignorant, it's also highly counterproductive.

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Ultimately, what makes the froggy attempts to maintain their language so counterproductive is that languages gain value as they evolve. English is generally a rather backwards language. The spelling and grammar rules are truly broken. However, english is becoming, ironically, the new lingua franca. The simple reason is that english has ballooned enormously, absorbing words from all of the cultures that it encounters. English now has something like a million words, as counted by the OED. Many of these words are homonyms, but with varying connotations. This makes it literally possible to express more things in english. The old saying that "eskimos have 30 words for snow, we only have one" is untrue...english has more words for snow that inuit. This all makes english rather unweildy and really hard to learn, but it makes for a robustness that more rigid languages don't have. I really like the frogs, and their many yummy wines and cheese, and even their silly language, but I think that this is pretty counterproductive.

I've always found pictures of scrapped planes rather sad. Obsolete technology is always a bit depressing. After all, lots of effort was put into designing, testing, and building that object or vehicle, and now it's just trash. I remember one cover of Air and Space affecting me in a strange way. It was rows of B-52 bombers lined up in the desert. Some were complete and others were reduced to piles of parts. They were the victim of an arms reduction treaty and were being dismantled in such a way that they could be counted by Russian satellites overhead. It was strange, because I should have been (and was) glad to see weapons of war being decommissioned, but yet I was affected by the ignomious end of those valiant warhorses. It was rather a bittersweet photograph for me. As an aside, I prattling on about it at dinner with friends, and it turned out that one of them had actually taken the photo in question!

To be perfectly honest, I can't see how Tony Blair is looking any better for any of this. Blair, like Bush, is a religious loon who was so convinced that justification would be found on the ground that he went to war on the thinnest of intelligence. Ultimately, that is the real damnation of the pair. Had there been WMD, as they so feverishly imagined, we wouldn't be having this conversation. They bet that there would be, and they lost big. Blair is more likely to lose his job than Bush because of this, but they certainly both deserve it richly. But that's not really my concern at the moment. I'm asking how when Bush displays a reality distortion field of that magnitude, how come he isn't being called upon it? I mean, read the quote! Look at the video (right near the end)! How can this be explained other than Bush has lost it?

Are you referring to this quote: Bush: "The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in. And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States and our friends and allies in the region." You can find it on the Whitehouse's web site at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/07/20030714-3.html. There is also a video, in which he gestures at a baffled Kofi Annan as he says it. I don't know if that is what you are referring to, but either Bush is confused, lying, or both. Or am I getting the meaning somehow wrong?

It's odd that it isn't even on the Bonehead web site yet. For that matter, the new-style Mindwarp isn't on there either. I'd just buy the Mindwarp and pocket the difference. If I remember to bring my camera to the DZ next time I go, I'll take a pic.

I saw the Gunner at a gear shop and thought it looked cool. However, it was $45 more than a Mindwarp and didn't seem like there was any difference, other than a slight difference in style and finish. At $225, it was only $10 cheaper than the Boomerang. Any idea why they're charging so much for it?