From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 1 06:16:57 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Thu Oct 1 06:20:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Minimum wage... References: Message-ID: "Mr K. Mean" wrote in message news:h9uvhp$4ds$1@news.spamcop.net... > > Australia doesn't have tipping (or a service charge for that matter) but > still somehow when you order food, somebody still brings it to the table. > Somehow restaurants are able to pay their staff off the prices listed in > the menus. Wasn't there a big stink in Britain a couple of years ago about restaurants who not only expected you to tip the waitstaff but also added 12 or 20% to the bill? From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Thu Oct 1 20:55:59 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Thu Oct 1 21:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Minimum wage... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Heidi said the following on 01/10/09 20:16: > "Mr K. Mean" wrote in message > news:h9uvhp$4ds$1@news.spamcop.net... >> >> Australia doesn't have tipping (or a service charge for that matter) but >> still somehow when you order food, somebody still brings it to the table. >> Somehow restaurants are able to pay their staff off the prices listed in >> the menus. > > Wasn't there a big stink in Britain a couple of years ago about restaurants > who not only expected you to tip the waitstaff but also added 12 or 20% to > the bill? Yeah, there you can fall prey to the double tip trick. Make sure you read your bill carefully to see if they have hidden a service charge in there as well as making you feel guilty about leaving a tip. From avoozl at spamcop.net Fri Oct 2 16:31:02 2009 From: avoozl at spamcop.net (Chris F. Willoughby) Date: Fri Oct 2 16:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9C98391D17525sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Hh5-VzbRI > More like trying not to get eatten. From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 2 21:10:25 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 2 21:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Chris F. Willoughby wrote: > "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message > news:Xns9C98391D17525sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Hh5-VzbRI >> > > More like trying not to get eatten. > > I was quite surprised that the orcas didn't try to tip over the boat or anything...they certainly could have done so easily had they wanted to. From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 2 22:23:49 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 2 22:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: h2o2 near you References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9C986F03612EETheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : It wasn't me! It was "Frog Prince" ! : : > It's 75 on my porch as I type this, nice breeze no need for heat or AC : > yesterday, last night or today. : : Ah, but yesterday... 87F or so in the afternoon. Then the tornado sirens : come on and we all go seek shelter. I suppose I was lucky not to have seen : the tornado but, hey, it would have been cool. We've been out and about all day all week You sure you're not hearing/imagining things? From user at domain.invalid Fri Oct 2 22:50:09 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Fri Oct 2 22:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Borgholio wrote: > > I was quite surprised that the orcas didn't try to tip over the boat or > anything...they certainly could have done so easily had they wanted to. One of the mysteries isn't it? They (wild orcas) almost never seem to harm people. Or they've been that way for quite a while, so far as we know. Maybe they don't like the taste/smell of us (which would be no defense if they were hungry enough). And that wouldn't explain why they didn't tip the boat to get at their prey/plaything (one little penguin would not be a significant food item for a single orca, let alone a pod of them). They (remembering 'they' are a slightly diverse bunch) routinely tip up small icebergs to get at seals. Supposedly they would try the same with marooned sailors many years ago but the very few modern/well-documented instances of wild orca attack could be attributed to them mis-identifying of their target or to 'hunters curiosity'. It is like they are really, really smart with some sort of empathy-in-depth to imagine consequences or relayed memory to recall consequences. With a social apex predator, using co-ordinated hunting techniques, weighing up to 10 tons, many tribes preferring mammals to fish it's as well for us they're that way - and that they stayed that way despite being hunted themselves at times (or at least the fish-eating pods were). So much we don't know, though supposedly one of the most studied of all the seas' creatures. From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 2 22:50:59 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 2 22:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9C98391D17525sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Hh5-VzbRI Penguins are not that bright: http://anhonestclimatedebate.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/penguin-polar-bear-symbols.jpg From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 2 23:31:05 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 2 23:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: h2o2 near you References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9C98E9671E7C7TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : It wasn't me! It was "Frog Prince" ! : > "Charles" wrote in message : > news:Xns9C986F03612EETheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : : >: Then the tornado sirens come on and we all go seek shelter. : : > We've been out and about all day all week You sure you're not : > hearing/imagining things? : : Well, no. Of course I'm not sure. But I have corroboration and he did : back my story up today. No, really, they hearded us all over to the : toilets for 15 minutes. What I saw was pretty impressive. And, yes, I am : feeding you a line. Please be so good, someone, as to run with it. If you had given me a heads up I'd play the good Republican ... You lie and I'll swear to it. From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 2 23:40:59 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 2 23:45:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? References: Message-ID: "Frog Prince" wrote in message news:ha6e6j$ulk$1@news.spamcop.net... : : : "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message : news:Xns9C98391D17525sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... :: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Hh5-VzbRI : : : Penguins are not that bright: : : http://anhonestclimatedebate.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/penguin-polar-bear-symbols.jpg But they can be ferocious http://api.ning.com/files/jsxW24cFoEiqZWDgfKeuLgoKo2GOUeScX7Z4SvfZeGw_/penguinCatThing.jpg From borgholio at storymind.com Sat Oct 3 00:32:52 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Sat Oct 3 00:35:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > > But they can be ferocious > > http://api.ning.com/files/jsxW24cFoEiqZWDgfKeuLgoKo2GOUeScX7Z4SvfZeGw_/penguinCatThing.jpg > > > > > That's just wrong... And yet, I can't stop laughing... From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 3 08:11:47 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 3 08:15:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Woman has Balls... References: Message-ID: ...and drives off home invaders with them! (Pool balls, that is.) http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1648889.html "'I heard something outside, and I went to the front door where I heard these two men talking quietly,' said Ollie, who had been cleaning the house. 'They didnšt ring the doorbell or knock. I put my ear to the door and I sensed that something was wrong.' Without thinking of calling 911, Ollie plotted her attack. She grabbed her sonšs bike helmet and loaded it with billiard balls. Hours later, she couldnšt remember how many she had taken.' She then climbed on the roof and flung pool balls at them, driving them off! Not real smart, but ... innovative. "'We recommend that people call 911 if they see strangers at their home,' North Richland Hills Investigator Keith Bauman said." Oh, while pelting the do-bads with pool balls, she was yelling "Death from above!" No shit. Wonder how fast the anti-gun bunch will be pushing the registration of the Q ball. From user at domain.invalid Sun Oct 4 23:54:56 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Sun Oct 4 23:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > "Frog Prince" wrote in > news:ha6e6j$ulk$1@news.spamcop.net: > >> >> "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message >> news:Xns9C98391D17525sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... >> : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Hh5-VzbRI >> >> >> Penguins are not that bright: >> >> http://anhonestclimatedebate.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/penguin-polar-bear-symbols.jpg >> >> > lol good one... although except in a zoo it could never happen! True (on both counts), you northern hemisphere guys ate all "your" penguins long ago. From MikeE at ster.invalid Mon Oct 5 11:11:02 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Mon Oct 5 11:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Farelf >> True (on both counts), you northern hemisphere guys ate all "your" >> penguins long ago. > What, there used to be penguins in the north?! The Galapagos penguins live in temperate waters and some of them hangout north of the equator. Also the Jackass/African penguin. There's an article^1 which mentions sightings of cold climate southern hemisphere penguins in the northern hemisphere, presumably captured in the south by fishermen who kept them as pets and transported them to cold waters in the north and let them go. Then they stayed up north because the temperate waters to the south were too warm to 'pass'/move back. Penguins aren't migratory and northern predators don't foster the cold northern habitat. ^1 http://snipr.com/sc6lp Why Don't Penguins Live in the Northern Hemisphere? - Fortunately, there are few predators on the southern islands or the beaches and ice of Antarctica. In the north, it would be different-in the north, there are Polar Bears, Arctic Foxes and other predators, including people. Any penguin colony that started up in the Arctic would likely quickly fall prey to these carnivores. Indeed, the few human attempts to establish penguin colonies in the Arctic have all failed. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From user at domain.invalid Mon Oct 5 13:03:20 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Mon Oct 5 13:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Farelf wrote in > news:habqme$p28$1@news.spamcop.net: > > >> True (on both counts), you northern hemisphere guys ate all "your" >> penguins long ago. >> > > What, there used to be penguins in the north?! Indeed, the great auk - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Auk - survived until historic times and there were others of their ilk in yet earlier times. And, IIRC, the name "penguin" comes from northern languages. Ah yes, see the 'Etymology' section under http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin - possibly Latin or Gaelic (Welsh - unlikely - or Breton). Ha "no connection between the Welsh and the birds," eh? Buggers ate 'em all I reckon (never stand between a Welshman and a meal they say, "A Welshman would chew the leg off a skinny Parson through a cane chair," but that's possibly calumnious, I don't think the Welsh 'chapels' actually employ Parsons, do they?). From MikeE at ster.invalid Mon Oct 5 13:47:34 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Mon Oct 5 13:50:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? References: Message-ID: Farelf wrote: > Sylvesterthekat wrote: >> Farelf >>> you northern hemisphere guys ate all "your" >>> penguins long ago. >> What, there used to be penguins in the north?! > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin - The wiki article on penguins seems to say to me that the evolutionary history of the penguin/s is that they 'arose' - originated evolutionarily - in the south and evolved in the south and were never in the north and couldn't 'go'/spread north - toward the Arctic - due to the warm waters of the equatorial/temperate zones and how penguins thrive and reproduce ecologically. It didn't seem to say that there used to be/ got to be/ cold-natured penguins north and south and then the northerners (later) got 'extinctified' due to predation, human or otherwise. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From user at domain.invalid Mon Oct 5 18:36:48 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Mon Oct 5 18:40:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > Farelf wrote: >> Sylvesterthekat wrote: >>> Farelf > >>>> you northern hemisphere guys ate all "your" >>>> penguins long ago. > >>> What, there used to be penguins in the north?! > >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin - > > The wiki article on penguins seems to say to me that the evolutionary > history of the penguin/s is that they 'arose' - originated > evolutionarily - in the south and evolved in the south and were never in > the north and couldn't 'go'/spread north - toward the Arctic - due to > the warm waters of the equatorial/temperate zones and how penguins > thrive and reproduce ecologically. > > It didn't seem to say that there used to be/ got to be/ cold-natured > penguins north and south and then the northerners (later) got > 'extinctified' due to predation, human or otherwise. > > They were not related but (the great auk article) - my emphasis - "*The Great Auk was also known as* a garefowl (from the Old Norse geirfugl, meaning "spear-bird", referring to the shape of its beak) and *penguin before the birds known by that name today were so called.*" Convergent evolution. It is a mistake to think 'modern' penguins are exclusively cold-climate - our reference says only a few species are 'Antarctic' and I know even here in sunny Perth (a sort of southern Californian/Mediterranean climate but with warmer waters than San Francisco - I can vouch for that) I can see penguins in the wild. Okay, they're "the world's smallest" but they're still penguins. From MikeE at ster.invalid Mon Oct 5 19:07:39 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Mon Oct 5 19:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? References: Message-ID: Farelf wrote: > Mike Easter wrote: >> The wiki article on penguins seems to say to me that the evolutionary >> history of the penguin/s is that they 'arose' - originated >> evolutionarily - in the south and evolved in the south > They were not related but (the great auk article) - my emphasis - "*The > Great Auk was also known as* a garefowl (from the Old Norse geirfugl, > meaning "spear-bird", referring to the shape of its beak) and *penguin > before the birds known by that name today were so called.*" Convergent > evolution. Yabbut, when you want to talk about the Great Auk, that is all about the *word* penguin's 'evolution'/etymology -- not about the true taxonomical evolution of the 'currently named' penguin family Spheniscidae. The wiki makes a very strong point about "The evolutionary history of penguins is well-researched and represents a showcase of evolutionary biogeography;" > It is a mistake to think 'modern' penguins are exclusively cold-climate > - our reference says only a few species are 'Antarctic' and I know even > here in sunny Perth (a sort of southern Californian/Mediterranean > climate but with warmer waters than San Francisco - I can vouch for > that) I can see penguins in the wild. Okay, they're "the world's > smallest" but they're still penguins. While I agree that -1- Perth Pacific is generally mellower than San Francisco - naturally, since Perth's antipode is Hamilton, Bermuda, while San Francisco is much more 'polarly' located, to say nothing of that Alaskan current which drenches it in the summertime. and -2- that some penguins are prone to be warm water near equatorial birds... ... but still, -3- the turf/waters from which they evolved were more like southern New Zealand and Antarctica, tho' tectonically located different from today, the most of them like to live in waters significantly cooler than those around Perth. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From user at domain.invalid Mon Oct 5 19:48:47 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Mon Oct 5 19:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > > Yabbut, when you want to talk about the Great Auk, that is all about the > *word* penguin's 'evolution'/etymology -- not about the true taxonomical > evolution of the 'currently named' penguin family Spheniscidae. All true, fact remains critters first known (to some) as penguins (and acting for all the world like penguins as we know them today) once lived in the northern hemisphere. Pinguinus impennis and pre-historic relatives. > > The wiki makes a very strong point about "The evolutionary history of > penguins is well-researched and represents a showcase of evolutionary > biogeography;" > > > While I agree that -1- Perth Pacific is generally mellower than San > Francisco - naturally, since Perth's antipode is Hamilton, Bermuda, > while San Francisco is much more 'polarly' located, to say nothing of > that Alaskan current which drenches it in the summertime. and -2- that > some penguins are prone to be warm water near equatorial birds... > > ... but still, -3- the turf/waters from which they evolved were more > like southern New Zealand and Antarctica, tho' tectonically located > different from today, the most of them like to live in waters > significantly cooler than those around Perth. > No argument, though why they never did migrate above the equator (some extinct types were more 'tropical' than any currently - especially during iceages - is a mystery. If the suitable 'niches' in terms of habitat and food were already taken that might help explain it. I don't know. From me at privacy.net Mon Oct 5 20:13:34 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Mon Oct 5 20:20:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Ping Mike Easter - Hawk Jockey! References: <0083990f$0$5048$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com> Message-ID: http://tinyurl.com/yabjk5u From MikeE at ster.invalid Mon Oct 5 21:16:42 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Mon Oct 5 21:20:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Ping Mike Easter - Hawk Jockey! References: <0083990f$0$5048$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com> Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > http://tinyurl.com/yabjk5u I'm sure 'my' kite that hunts off my fence would *never* behave in such a cowardly manner. He seems much braver and confident than that redtailed hawk was acting. The birds around here aren't exactly friendly with each other. Naturally the hummingbirds are very feisty, but the biggest most aggressive birds are the grackles or whatever exact kind of black bird they are. There are a number of them and they are 'assertive'. But when they 'offend' the mockingbirds somehow for something they've done or somewhere they've been, the - several - mockingbirds start swooping at them and attacking them and chase them all off. The grackles are many times the size of the mockingbirds and have much bigger beaks, but they don't even 'think about' doing anything defensively against a mockingbird blitz. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Oct 7 13:09:39 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Oct 7 13:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: Subject: let me tell you about some strange things -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Oct 7 13:59:43 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Oct 7 14:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > I came back in 5 minutes and he had burned me a CD. On demand music and other products have been in the works for years, and I can searchfind services selling the ware for those who would want to run such a storefront operation, but I haven't found ads for anything but the virtual/online types of stores - such as a chain of storefronts like the one you found. There's online CDBaby and such. Digital-on-demand. What was the name of this operation? Receipt or not, it seems like the kind of operation which could lend itself to easy piracy in addition to having a legitimate license to produce copyrighted material. I wonder how such a business is regulated? Just like I wonder about those who traffic in larger quantities of such as tobacco products with and without stamps. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 7 14:46:08 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 7 14:50:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] WOO-HOO! Message-ID: Finally, I got some great news! My LTD company called me an hour ago with the results of that IME medical exam I had last month -- I aced the test! The doctor agreed that I wasn't physically capable of working full time so UNUM is going to continue my LTD payments. WooHoo! So the pressure is off to have a job by November, thank god....they did say that they will continue to monitor my progress and I'll probably have to take another exam at some undetermined time in the future. They're also going to send another "examiner" to my house to interview me again, like they did a couple years ago. Dunno what exactly he's going to want to know, but I've been up front with them about my activity levels so I don't have anything to hide. My health has gotten worse since that two-week burst of activity I had at the end of July/1st week of August, and it was really starting to get me down (one of the reasons I haven't been around here much). Over the weekend I was trying to figure out if my lifestyle had changed somehow, so I went to my daily logbook to find the entries around the time of my crash in August. I discovered that two things changed: 1) I dropped my hydrocortisone dose from 15 mg/day to 10 mg/day, and 2) I ran out of a product called "Thyroid Helper", and not knowing whether it was actually helping me or not since I take so many supplements, I had decided not to refill it and see what happened (which I soon forgot about). My decline in health was gradual, so I know it wasn't the hydro dose change - that hits me immediately. I also did two other things last week: I remembered that you're supposed to take a break from the meds and supplements I'm taking for my cellular function problems every 3-4 months, and I had been taking them for about 6 straight months, so I took a week off, removing them from my regimen. I restarted 3 of them yesterday, will wait a few weeks, then restart the other 3 assuming I'm feeling ok. I also looked closely at one of the supplements I was taking from the same company that makes the thyroid supplement, and found out that the recommended dosage for the "Activator" cellular energy support supplement is 1-2 tabs 2-3 times per day, and I was only taking 1 tab/day. I usually start new supplements at the lowest dosage possible to make sure I don't overwhelm my body, and I never upped the dosage to the proper level. The last 2 days I've taken 2 tabs x 2, and the improvement in my energy level was immediate -- I've actually gotten out of bed around 8:30 am the last 2 days, instead of napping until noon or later like I had been doing for the last 6 weeks. Lastly, I just got off the phone with my Dad to tell him the good news about my LTD payments, and mentioned a doctor recommended to me by a friend of mine (he used to do graphic arts work for the doc) -- this heart surgeon at Washington Hospital Center (WHC) who invented the "off-pump" bypass surgery technique, which has a mortality rate 50% lower than standard bypass surgery. My Dad was very excited about it and asked me to send him the name of the doc and some more info because he sees his heart doc on Monday and he wants to talk to him about the procedure. Apparently up in podunk Lancaster County where he lives they haven't heard about the procedure yet (or nobody up there has learned how to do it). While looking for some links to the surgery to send him, I discovered something even cooler -- the same heart surgery clinic at WHC has invented a technique for repairing clogged arteries using a CO2 laser -- and it's minimally invasive (arthroscopic), no cracking the chest. Dunno whether my Dad's heart problems can be fixed by that technique, but I'm sure he's going to find out! Damn, I needed some good news, and I just got a ton of it in the span of an hour today! (plus I sold two of my IRA bond funds for a very nice 20% profit ;-) From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Oct 7 22:05:27 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Oct 7 22:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: >> The border patrol was brutal. > > I met this Mexican guy. Here legally, of course. Working. And a lot > thinner than he was a few months ago. Part of that had to do with his > recent experience with the border patrol. To start off they took his > papers (???). Then his shoes. Then they mashed each finger with a > hammer. Then they set him free. He walked 4 days through the deserts > of Texas before getting back to civilization. He couldn't walk for a > week after that. > > Now... Yeah. Well. This just sucks. Know what I mean? Highly doubtful (to my perception) story from what I've seen of the activities of numerous border patrol agents, innumerable legal Mexican immigrants, very numerous illegal Mexican immigrants, and a few illegal Mexican criminals on each side of the CA/MX border in San Diego County, CA, USA over the past 35 years. A few more years were spent by me in TX, but I didn't see as much of that kind of activity there as here. Maybe we have almost all good border patrol in CA and there are some kind of bad guys in TX. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From joegill at removethis Thu Oct 8 08:37:58 2009 From: joegill at removethis (Joe Gill) Date: Thu Oct 8 08:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Unexpected trip... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "David Dean" wrote in message news:v8ltfuv02-FF4E8D.06091808102009@reserved-multicast-range-not-delegated.example.com... > I'm sitting in the airport in Pittsburgh, killing time and catching > up with the events of the past week. > My father passed away on Saturday. Very nice obit: > > > > First time in 12 years all of my siblings have been together. > -- > -David Another things that stands out is ...what a life of SERVICE, to famliy and community. A real Servant of the Lord! From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 8 08:49:56 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 8 08:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> Maybe we have almost all good border patrol in CA and there are some >> kind of bad guys in TX. > > And maybe they were just vigilante assholes and he didn't know the > difference. I can certainly buy that concept. > That part isn't really important. Ha! (That was not me laughing -- that was me 'snorting' derisively.) If you don't think the part about whether you are telling a story about border patrol or vigilantes doing bad things, then you and I don't see the story the same way at all. > Someone took his papers. > Someone took his shoes. Someone mashed this fingers. He's lucky and > glad to be alive. And isn't planning on going back to Mexico - ever. To me, there's a world of difference in the 'meaning' of the story whether it was done by vigilantes or allegedly by border patrol. Where I come from, the border patrol protects illegal and legal immigrants from criminal illegal Mexican coyote activities (rape, theft) or criminal California vigilantes (assault) - if that criminal activity is happening 'in front of' or on the turf that that border patrol works. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 8 09:14:44 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 8 09:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: David Dean wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> Highly doubtful (to my perception) > > What am I not surprised that you doubt that corruption exists? If you are planning on debating or discussing a point of view or difference of opinion with me, you are going to have to do better than posing a meaningless rhetorical question. I recommend that you state your opinion if it is in contradistinction to mine; of which mine was expressed clearly, whereas yours wasn't expressed at all. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 8 09:19:53 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 8 09:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9C9E5037A6F28TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : It wasn't me! It was "Mike Easter" ! : : > Highly doubtful (to my perception) story from what I've seen : : The rig hands (of which he is one) were telling me the story. Given the : person it happened to and the guys telling the story and how they told it, : it all seemed very likely. I didn't get all of the details like don't know : why/how "they" took his papers (in the story it wasn't clear that the : "they" were always the same people). : : : > Maybe we have almost all good border patrol in CA and there are some : > kind of bad guys in TX. : : And maybe they were just vigilante assholes and he didn't know the : difference. That part isn't really important. Someone took his papers. : Someone took his shoes. Someone mashed this fingers. He's lucky and glad : to be alive. And isn't planning on going back to Mexico - ever. And this is somehow equates to a connection to the Border Patrol agent abuse? If this guy is legitimate why didn't he take a bus across the border. You know something that happens many times ever day? Alternatively he could take an airliner ... some thing that also happens many times a day. I expect there is much to the story you're not being told. From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 8 10:26:11 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 8 10:30:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9C9E66376448CTheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : It wasn't me! It was "Frog Prince" ! : > "Charles" wrote in message : > news:Xns9C9E5037A6F28TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : : >: And maybe they were just vigilante assholes and he didn't know the : >: difference. : : > And this is somehow equates to a connection to the Border Patrol agent : > abuse? : : Actually, it does. I was told it was BP. Saying it was, perhaps, VA was : unfounded speculation on my part in an attempt to appease ME. That : obviously didn't work. Reminds me of a lot of stories I was told about Katrina, some from the "horses mouth" who when asked for details or when critical discrepancies were pointed out the 'gospel truth' story did not hold water. : > If this guy is legitimate why didn't he take a bus across the border. : : Someone took his papers, eh? If he took the bus/airline it's unlikely anyone would have taken his papers. If his papers were taken before he cross the border the problem was on the MEXICAN side. If after he crossed the border likely he was not traveling of a common carrier which leads me to question what else was going on at the time. You just got back from DFW, if it missed your notice there are places in and around DFW one does not go without escort. : > I expect there is much to the story you're not being told. : : Of course. And maybe I'll get that some day. Prolly not. From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 8 11:17:37 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Thu Oct 8 11:20:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Unexpected trip... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "David Dean" wrote in message news:v8ltfuv02-FF4E8D.06091808102009@reserved-multicast-range-not-delegated.example.com... > I'm sitting in the airport in Pittsburgh, killing time and catching > up with the events of the past week. > My father passed away on Saturday. Very nice obit: > > > > First time in 12 years all of my siblings have been together. I'm very sorry for your loss, David, and even sorrier that you and your siblings can only manage to get together on such an occasion.....maybe I don't realize how lucky I have it that all my siblings stuck close to my parent's house except me, making getting together for Thanksgiving, Xmas, birthday parties etc. a piece of cake.....Aunt's and Uncle's 'n cousins are a different story, they're spread from Ohio to Florida. From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 8 11:23:12 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Thu Oct 8 11:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:haikug$9nf$1@news.spamcop.net... > Charles wrote: > >> I came back in 5 minutes and he had burned me a CD. > > On demand music and other products have been in the works for years, and > I can searchfind services selling the ware for those who would want to > run such a storefront operation, but I haven't found ads for anything > but the virtual/online types of stores - such as a chain of storefronts > like the one you found. Before those old mall music chains died out years ago they were selling "make your own" CD's, at least around here. I'm talking at least 10 years ago, but all the chains went out of business with the death of vinyl and the invention of Napster (the illegal version). From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 8 11:23:20 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 8 11:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > "Frog Prince" >> "Charles" >>> And maybe they were just vigilante assholes and he didn't know the >>> difference. > >> And this is somehow equates to a connection to the Border Patrol agent >> abuse? > > Actually, it does. I was told it was BP. Saying it was, perhaps, VA > was unfounded speculation on my part in an attempt to appease ME. That > obviously didn't work. > > >> If this guy is legitimate why didn't he take a bus across the border. > > Someone took his papers, eh? > > >> I expect there is much to the story you're not being told. > > Of course. And maybe I'll get that some day. Prolly not. In order for the original story to make any sense, you would have to have BP agents taking away the papers of a legal US citizen of Mexican heritage/ethnicity. In order for *that* story to make any sense, the agent/s would have to have some intense racial hatred for all Mexicans. In case you haven't noticed lately, the vast majority of BP agents on our southern borders are of Mexican descent, often even having Spanish as their first/native language. It does not /compute/ for some southern BP agents to have an intense racial hatred for all those of Mexican descent including those carrying good US papers and then to assault him in a manner which would get the agent/s kicked off the BP and also successfully sued by any of the myriad of attorneys who work for and profit from the problems of legal and illegal immigrants in our border cities. Including any 'rudeness' by BP agents. I can think of a *lot* of different possibilities than the veracity of the original story you repeated. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 8 11:32:55 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 8 11:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Unexpected trip... References: Message-ID: "David Dean" wrote in message news:v8ltfuv02-FF4E8D.06091808102009@reserved-multicast-range-not-delegated.example.com... : I'm sitting in the airport in Pittsburgh, killing time and catching : up with the events of the past week. : My father passed away on Saturday. Very nice obit: : : : : First time in 12 years all of my siblings have been together. : -- : David, My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. My dad died near 30 years ago and I still catch myself wanting to call him about this or that sometimes for advise most of the time to share a joy. From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 8 12:21:40 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 8 12:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> I can think of a *lot* of different possibilities > > OK. Well. Go ahead! Shoot us one or two! Unfortunately, the story was told by Chas, who never provides anywhere near enough important details. He seems to run on 'sensations'. "I don't know exactly what happened, but it was really terrible!" -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 8 12:47:06 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 8 12:50:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > I met this Mexican guy. Here legally, of course. Met? Meaning that he doesn't work for you and you have not been presented with his credentials. Where does this legally of course stuff come from? > Working. The vast majority of illegals are working. Many/Some have some kind of 'papers' which they bought, borrowed, or forged. > And a lot > thinner than he was a few months ago. This is the only part that we can assume that you saw for yourself with your own eyes. He was thinner than before. Or, perhaps he looked thin and (just) told you that he had lost much weight. > Part of that had to do with his > recent experience with the border patrol. To start off they took his > papers (???). Then his shoes. Then they mashed each finger with a > hammer. Then they set him free. This is the part where I'm saying apparently/allegedly 'someone' - they - did or apparently someone did stuff. I'm trying to imagine why someone would do that. I can imagine that such /might/ be done by vigilantes, if he were illegally border crossing, especially with forged papers. Especially if he had stolen something from some vigilante's place. Break his fingers instead of cutting fingers or his hand off. There are millions and millions of illegal immigrants and he might be one. I cannot imagine genuine BP agents 'disenfranchising' (take some kind of papers), torturing, shoestealing (!?), and then remotely abandoning a legal US citizen of Mexican descent, ostensibly to die in the wilderness. Some other Mexican illegal border crosser might steal another's shoes out there, tho', to get across the rough terrain. In the US we aren't usually required to have any kinds of 'papers'. Papers are what you need to come into the US from Mexico. Those are the documents you use at legal border entry points. And he was out there in the remote desert, why? You don't cross the border out in the desert legally. > He walked 4 days through the deserts > of Texas before getting back to civilization. He couldn't walk for a > week after that. He was certainly lucky to still be alive if he did all that. This guy doesn't make a living (on the side) by being a coyote does he? Nobody likes coyotes, vigilantes or BP agents. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 8 13:14:10 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 8 13:15:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: bait and switch References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > I ordered stuff online. Chose fedex ground shipping. They're shipping > to me USPS. I called BS. They wrote back, "We shipped through USPS > priority mail service which delivers your order quickly in 2-3 days > than FEDEX Ground." I don't really care when it comes in. I care that > you're not delivering the service I asked for. Personally I prefer USPS priority over Fedex and I get irritated when a shipper doesn't have that option for the types of orders which would be handled better that way. The 'competition' between fedex and usps is all about whether or not fedex will pickup from the shipper and how/where fedex delivers vs what arrangements the shipper has to use with usps and how the recipient is going to receive the usps item. For me personally, it works a lot better and a lot faster and a lot cheaper for me to get items from usps. At either of 2 different usps addresses. Once upon a time in the past, fedex was (just) OK for me because the preferred shipment receiving address was a business with someone (else) to sign the fedex receipt during business hours. But I agree with you that they should make it clear on the ordering process about how the options for shipping work - if it is *their* option or yours. I'm accustomed to knowing what the shipping charges are at the time I place my order. In order to *know* (exactly Chas, not a feeling) how much the shipping charges are going to be, then you have to *know* /exactly/ how it is being shipped. In order to *know* what address to have an item shipped, you should have to know *how* - by what carrier - it is being shipped. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 8 14:12:32 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 8 14:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: bait and switch References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > For me the choice between those two for shipping is simple. Now ? what about the part where you were ordering from the shipper and the system was determining the cost of shipping somewhere about the same time that you were selecting the method of shipping and completing the shipping address. If both the cost and method of shipping were being determined then/there by whether it was fedex or usps, it seems that cost and method issue would have become fixed at the same/ that/ time. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 8 17:08:48 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 8 17:10:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: David Dean wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> If you are planning on debating or discussing a point of view or >> difference of opinion with me, you are going to have to do better than >> posing a meaningless rhetorical question. > It's absurd that you try to call me on a meaningless > post when it was no more meaningless than what it was replying to. I was calling you as much on taunting as the absence of any argument. If you are going to adopt a contrary point of view, this isn't how a rational perspective is stated: David Dean wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> Highly doubtful (to my perception) > > What am I not surprised that you doubt that corruption exists? -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From avoozl at spamcop.net Thu Oct 8 17:22:18 2009 From: avoozl at spamcop.net (Chris F. Willoughby) Date: Thu Oct 8 17:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Unexpected trip... References: Message-ID: "David Dean" wrote in message news:v8ltfuv02-F767CF.13192608102009@n003-000-000-000.static.ge.com... > It was a blessing. The time we spent together this week was > fantastic. So much laughter with the tears. Despite our differences, we > learned love and forgiveness from our father. I will be making much more > of an effort to see them in the future. > -- > -David > Good. That's the best part I think. :) From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 8 18:25:18 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 8 18:30:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: David Dean wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> It does not /compute/ for some southern BP agents to have an intense >> racial hatred > > Then why is it happening? We need to get clear on some entities. I am speaking specifically about San Diego Co Border Patrol agents, that is the US Customs and Border Protection CBP, San Diego County Division and those who belong to it. The fact that I know a number of them and have interacted with many scores of them over the decades does not disqualify me from having insight into their ethnicity and behaviors. ICE is US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I don't know much of anything about ICE in San Diego, but I see your LA clippings/links. They are both under Homeland Security, as is the INS Immigration and Nationalization Service. > BTW, can you find the EEOC statistics for ICE? I'm really curious if > your assertion that so many agents are of hispanic origin is at all > accurate. I don't want to talk about the generic ICE or even the generic (national) CBP. I'm talking SD Co. CBP and its agents only. Agents in that entity made a lot of headlines in the last few years when two of them went to prison for how they interacted with a Mexican national criminal. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 8 19:03:44 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 8 19:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: David Dean wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> I am speaking specifically about San Diego Co Border Patrol agents > > Then you /are/ talking about employees of ICE. Not so. Not at all so. The agencies are considered 'sister' agencies and they work together on some issues. I'll find a snippage of an example. > You're also moving the > goal posts back to your anecdotal evidence. Argument by anecdote is not > rational argument. Personal knowledge counts as rational as well as first hand. > Furthermore those folks aren't particularly relevant > to the issue at hand. Altho' neither of us know the true details of the issue at hand, Chas alleged that it was BP agents, presumably Texas BP agents, that is, CBP not ICE. I suspect there are considerable realworld similarities between Texas BP agents and SD Co BP agents in terms of their general commitment to proper duty and ethnic percentages as well as a great deal of difference from ICE agents which are in metropolitan areas and crime scenes far removed from the remote border crossing issues. > You said that you doubted that abuse existed in the agency as a whole > based on your experience of a particular subdivision. The abuse as specifically vaguely described by Chas. > I cited evidence > that abuse inside the larger entity has indeed occurred. How ICE behaves populated by NY and LA members likely bears no resemblance to how San Diego and Texas BP agents behave. Those agents are mostly doing their work in remote areas, not ghettos. > I don't have > any doubt that there are AVs (to borrow Charles' term) VAs, vigilante *ssholes > who are > government (in this case, ICE) employees. I don't know any ICE employees, in NY or LA or San Diego. >The fact is that there are AVs > in every walk of life. Denying their existence is a craven act. Craven? Denying? You are misstating my position and then implying that I am cowardly. > We have > to find them and root them out. We have to prevent them from every > getting into positions of authority. That's fine with me. Don't get my arguments mixed up with something else you might feel. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 8 19:41:08 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 8 19:45:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Heed help with one of my grand kids. References: Message-ID: Thanks to all for your considered response, knowledgeable assistance and suggestions. Up date: Without going into details our efforts revealed that neither my grand kids nor their close friends were the source of the problems. In the process but did uncover some serious goings on in the area. Beyond that I can't comment at this time. From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 8 22:29:43 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 8 22:30:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: David Dean wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> Highly doubtful > > Sounds like a denial to me. If you want to backpedal, that's your > choice. I think I'm better off just not bothering to reply to your > offensive posts. That's funny you should say that. It seemed to me that you were the one being offensive with your ad hominem choices of words, starting with your first inane rhetorical misrepresentation and right up to the craven part. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 8 22:41:24 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Thu Oct 8 22:45:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: WOO-HOO! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9C9EB9A93299Fsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > Great news on all counts, glad you're not about to be dumped into > poverty. I hope your dad can get that CO2 thing, it sounds much better > than open heart surgery. How is he doing by the way? > He was back in the hospital the other day for indigestion problems (again, like his 3rd time since his heart attack). They gave him some new meds and he's scheduled for an endoscopic exam of his stomach to look for ulcers. I talked to him today to get his take on the info I sent him about the "beating heart bypass surgery" and he was pretty negative about it. He doesn't think like me as far as medical care goes, he's very traditional like my mom was -- if I were him I would have called the doctor in DC immediately to schedule an appt., but he was going on about "it's so far away from my home (a whole 2 hour drive), I trust my doctors" blah blah....although he was very surprised to learn about the brain damage that frequently occurs with traditional open heart surgery, his doctors had not mentioned that to him. It varies from patient to patient as far as how bad the cognitive loss is, but it's a common after-affect, apparently. If I accomplished anything by providing him with the info, at least he now has a list of questions for his appt. on Monday. It really bothers me that they didn't tell him about the potential brain issues. On the opposite side, I talked to my Aunt tonight (his sister), and she asked me if this newer procedure is so great why isn't it more widespread? A valid question....but I talked to one of my PT's about it today and he said "of course hospitals are going to slow do adopt it or reject it, because it is a cheaper option to traditional surgery, they'll lose profits if they do it"....no heart/lung machine needed, no one needed to run the machine, release from hospital time is cut in half, etc. Plus, it requires special instruments/tools, and a much higher degree of skill on the part of the surgeon because they are operating on a "live" heart. You could argue back and forth about which surgery is the best option forever I think...but the cognitive function issue alone sways me to the side of the newer procedure. I also learned something interesting today during my therapy session -- I told him my back was hurting because I slept in a "bad" position for a bit this morning, a position that puts torque on the back. When I showed him the position of my body (on my stomach, right arm above my head, right leg contracted, left leg straight, left arm down along my side) he asked me about my birth. I told him that I had recently learned that I was a breech birth, that's why I came out first as a twin, my butt was blocking the way out. He asked me if I was delivered feet first or head first, and whether my face was up or down during delivery. I didn't know the answer to either question, and neither did my my Dad, because back in the 60's they didn't allow fathers in the delivery room. Turns out that this favorite (but bad for my back) sleeping orientation is *exactly* the way a foot-first breech delivery is performed! Secondly, if I was delivered face up, the pelvic bone would have forced my head forward (chin pressed against my chest), which may have pre-disposed me to neck problems. A breech birth is a traumatic event for the fetus, and he says my body's memory of the strain on my neck may be why my response to stress or trauma causes my neck muscles to spasm -- they're trying to protect my neck from injury by locking up to prevent movement. I have a second opinion about my neck muscle problems -- bone spurs. Two years ago when I aggravated my L5 disk herniation to the point that I had horrendous sciatic pain in my right leg and an epidural plus PT didn't help, my lyme doc treated me with a drug called Colchicine, which had been shown to reduce the size of disk herniations and dissolve mineral/crytalline deposits in the body. My sciatic pain disappeared after the 3rd IV treatment, and by the end of the 8 week treatment my neck didn't hurt either. >From X-rays taken a year after my second neck surgery, we knew that I had developed bone spurs at the site of my disk replacement, which were probably irrating the surrounding tissues and causing my neck muscles to spasm. After the colchicine therapy, my neck didn't bother me for about 1 1/2 years. Now it's become a severe problem again, and various physical therapies twice a week for the last 2 months have not resolved the issue -- I think the spurs have grown back. I called my lyme doc today to see if they had any colchicine (the FDA banned it's production about 4 years ago) and they said they had none left. So now I need to go to my ortho guy and get a neck x-ray to see if my suspicions are correct and the bone spurs are back -- if I'm right, I'll have to get them removed surgically because I believe they are the source of my neck/back pain that's preventing me from returning to work. After an hour of googling, luckily it appears that there are some minimally invasive procedures available to remove cervical bone spurs, although it may be very costly, perhaps so costly that I can't pay for it, then I'm screwed. While reading up on the procedures, I found a clinic that specialized in the removal of hardware installed during spinal fusion. I had a titanium "ladder" brace screwed into the vertabrae above and below the replaced disk because I intended to resume playing basketball and wanted the extra re-inforcement to prevent the fusion from cracking. Four years later, I don't think I'll be playing competitive basketball ever again, so I'm considering having that brace removed, since it can also be a source of irritation of the tissue surrounding it, causing my neck muscle spasms and pain. So many things to consider! All I know is that PT is not working to fix my neck problems, and I have to do something about it or I'll never be pain free. The X-ray is the first step, I'll decide what to do after seeing the results and consulting with a neurosurgeon if I'm right about bone spurs being the problem. And if that isn't the cause I'll have to consider a special "rebirthing" therapy my guy suggested to me today, it attempts to revisit your birth and retrain your brain to change the experience, in essence forgetting about the trauma and the way your body responds to stresses. I'm a little skeptical, but need to look into it -- that type of "somatic" therapy is exactly what my guy specializes in, and he's helped me a lot in dealing with past traumatic events in my life (like that root canal from hell I had in Nov 2006 that was the straw that broke the camel's back, forcing me onto disability leave in Dec 2006) -- what I mean is that this particular technique has worked for me previously, so I need to research it a bit. Thank ghod I got that MD sponsored health insurance instead of taking the risk of trying to save the premium money in hope that I'd get better fast enough to return to work without having an injury or medical problem of any kind..... From user at domain.invalid Fri Oct 9 02:21:50 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Fri Oct 9 02:25:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Farelf wrote in news:had8sp$a0g$1@news.spamcop.net: > > >> Indeed, the great auk - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Auk - >> survived until historic times and there were others of their ilk in yet >> earlier times. > > > It's not related to the penguin, apparently (it's a myth). > > Oh, nice one! Not that I find "myth" particularly inflamatory - myths, after all, are more memorable than the facts and less mutable, as I like to say. But doormatagement becomes me not. So, {sigh}. That which we call penguins today are familiarly - not scientifically (the distinction is important) - called penguins because they incontestably and in many ways resembled those birds of the northern hemisphere which some already called penguins^1 in days of yore when those northern penguins were known to living (or fairly recently deceased) men. The northern 'penguins' are no more mythical than the cave bear or the aurochs. It could be argued (through some notion of 'prior assignment') that southern penguins aren't penguins at all because they're not related to the former penguins. But no-one would argue that. Possibly in might trigger an aneurysm in any who might be both passionate and susceptible . ^1("Penguin", or the recognizably-equivalent names in their own tongues or from the Latin) Mike Easter gently chides concerning the etymological argument. I make no apology. Scientific taxonomy was yet to be invented when all of this naming ("folk taxonomy") of penguins was going on. And those fledgling scientific taxonomies appeared some 200 years *after* the word "penguin" first appeared in English usage and the scientific taxonomies have anyway been subject to much revision, both in outline and in detail, all the while since. If we were going to insist on some sort of direct biological relationship (in terms of scientific classification or DNA evidence) for the sharing of a common/familiar name then are we would want to rename all sorts of similar-looking-and-behaving creatures and plants that turn out to be unrelated when that stringency is applied. We don't want to do that. 'Magpie' is another bird that comes quickly to mind in such a context. I am sure there are many, many others. These things were given familiar names before they were scientifically described and named. Their actual lineage has nothing to do with it. And, as mentioned/contested, scientific names are often revised when actual/supposed lineage becomes clearer. Why is this so difficult? Would it help if I retract my mischievous suggestion that you ate all the northern penguins? From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 9 11:22:31 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 9 11:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Payday...woot! Message-ID: Well my second payday at my new job. Direct deposit makes it fun to wake up in the morning to see a fresh deposit there. :) I'm about done with training (finally) so soon I will be going on the floor. For some reason I worry that I'll totally suck as a salesman and I won't be keeping the job... From user at domain.invalid Fri Oct 9 12:10:30 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Fri Oct 9 12:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Payday...woot! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Borgholio wrote: > For some > reason I worry that I'll totally suck as a salesman and I won't be > keeping the job... Normal jitters, that's a good thing. Means you're concerned to do well - and that concern will ensure that you do so. From avoozl at spamcop.net Fri Oct 9 17:18:10 2009 From: avoozl at spamcop.net (Chris F. Willoughby) Date: Fri Oct 9 17:20:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: next door's dog makes a mistake References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9C9EB91DD7158sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH0bmdQrxZE > > this is a very bouncy dog as you can see, and it bounced its way over the > dividing wall (5ft high) and into Jack's turf. big mistake lol. before i > started filming, jack was chasing this dog all around the garden. guess i > don't have to worry about the cat if i decide to get a dog as a pet! nb, > he's swelled up to a good third of his usual size due to fluffage lol haha, that puppy looks like it's having fun.. From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Oct 9 21:48:28 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Fri Oct 9 21:50:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things References: Message-ID: David Dean wrote: > you are trying to make this argument about me and not the > topic at hand. In the beginning I defended the activities of presumed Texas border patrol because Chas repeated a story related to him by another which I considered to be of doubtful veracity. Then you denigrated my opinion or judgment with a rhetorical insulting oblique question which hardly related to what I had said. Then I asked you to address the issue of border patrol behaviors instead of alluding to a personal assault on my judgment or opinion. Next I further elaborated on the basis for my opinion based on my specific and personal experience and knowledge of San Diego County border patrol agents. In the meantime, I also elaborated on the flaws in the premise or logic of the victim's story, entirely separate from my own personal experiences and knowledge relating to my county's local border patrol agents. You followed up with stories/links relating to your offense at the result of your searching some behaviors of the ICE agency in various metropolitian areas, which ICE hadn't been mentioned up until that time. You never addressed the issue of the suggested flaws in the victim's story. Besides your ICE incident evidence presentations, you continued to misrepresent or misstate my representations or positions or statements by creating a strawman to attack which strawman you would have deny the occurrence of any possible abusive behaviors by any employee of any agency of Homeland Security, meanwhile using terms to describe my opinions or positions as craven, offensive, backpedaling, or otherwise disqualifed. Your most recent/current position is that of alleging that this discussion has been about /you/ rather than the issues, when in fact much of the discussion has been about your derogatory remarks about me or my opinions while you only occasionally also present your side or arguments in the discussion, such as ICE -- instead you mostly just attack the character or person of the other party in the debate. I don't know where you derived that debating/discussing style, but it isn't wholesome. It is rude. It might be effective on the elementary school playground. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From borgholio at storymind.com Sat Oct 10 14:57:14 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Sat Oct 10 15:00:10 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things In-Reply-To: <3ta1d51ausscjug98mpnspa717hk87qfj0@4ax.com> References: <1leqc59rqvmopi3uqijg5ukmqnbhngkmj0@4ax.com> <3ta1d51ausscjug98mpnspa717hk87qfj0@4ax.com> Message-ID: Evan Platt wrote: > On Thu, 8 Oct 2009 01:14:31 +0000 (UTC), Charles > wrote: > >> At itunes prices that could get expensive. Especially if you're into those >> catch pop/punk songs that are all of 90 seconds long. > > This was WAY before itunes. This was when tapes were popular. :) What's a...tape? *ducks* From me at privacy.net Sun Oct 11 00:26:28 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sun Oct 11 00:30:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: next door's dog makes a mistake References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CA0BE54E8F50sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : "Chris F. Willoughby" wrote in : news:hao9al$chp$1@news.spamcop.net: : : > haha, that puppy looks like it's having fun.. : : That dog is irrepressible, even though they apparently keep him tied up in : their yard most of the time during daylight hours. Or perhaps because of : it... it's a very sweet and friendly dog but way out of control. Dog deserves some decent training. We've had dogs since i was a wee child. Untrained dogs can be a menace, trained dogs can be a god sent. Last dog we had was a Great Pry. DIL was deathly afraid of all dogs based on her childhood. Took only a brief period with our Great Pry and watching her interaction with our grand daughter she was sold. My kids later became a foster to adopt family and had a bad experience with a birth family sneaking around their home in the country. Dog raised the alarm and the neighbors called the police. Police waited until the (very cold) rain stopped before they had us call off the dog to let these folk out of the tree in the front yard (Hey we had hot coffee and fresh homemade pie) I had no idea that people came in the color (ice cold) purple. http://www.tealwoodkennel.com/Becky2Pyranese0602.JPG From borgholio at storymind.com Sun Oct 11 00:53:26 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Sun Oct 11 00:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Payday...woot! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Borgholio wrote in > news:hankfc$3nk$1@news.spamcop.net: > >> Well my second payday at my new job. Direct deposit makes it fun to >> wake up in the morning to see a fresh deposit there. :) I'm about >> done with training (finally) so soon I will be going on the floor. >> For some reason I worry that I'll totally suck as a salesman and I >> won't be keeping the job... > > Excellent! If nothing else you've gotten a couple of paychecks out of the > experience. But hopefully you'll do well at it. How do you like it there, > any good folks? All good folks...very nice people. I like it there. :) From user at domain.invalid Sun Oct 11 03:02:08 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Sun Oct 11 03:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Farelf wrote in > news:hamkpr$p55$1@news.spamcop.net: > > > My point was that the southern hemisphere penguins that we know today > are not in any way related to any of the auks. That they were similarly > named for their appearance by some people doesn't mean that they were > ever actually related. Of course not. Like magpies. Never said differently. We agree, totally. My point, if I have one, is that the only genus Pinguinus is that of the extinct northern bird and its even longer-extinct relatives. So when I said, all tongue in cheek, 'you northern hemisphere guys ate all "your" penguins long ago' I did not anticipate any continuing or half-serious argument/difficulty based on the modern English usage of the word "penguin" which might prohibit the use of the word in application to the very birds that the southern birds were commonly named after from sharing that name. Not that I mind of course, not in the slightest. It is all good fun. > > Either way, it is a shame that the Great Auk was decimated. And believe > it or not, most of us don't give any thought to some sort of north/south > rivalry. Besides, most of you antipodeans were still northerners at the > time that the Great Auk was being decimated so your ancestors bear as > much blame as mine! They weren't decimated, they were annihilated. Heh, I'm the southerner sticking up for the memory of the sadly defunct 'northern penguin' (or pingouin as the French would say - they were the premier 'encyclopediasts' at the time all this 'folk-naming' was going on and that is relevant to 'where I'm coming from'). I never take any of this supposed regional rivalry stuff seriously. That (taking it seriously) is tribal behaviour at its worst and heaven help us if we're not past that now. But, at a certain level, it is/can be fun too. As long as it's not taken seriously. We laugh at /scorn ourselves when we laugh at 'others'. > > http://eatmorecookies.wordpress.com/category/great-auk/ > > Their superficial resemblance to penguins is a wonderful example of > convergent evolution, i.e., unrelated species developing through natural > selection similar strategies to solve similar problems. In this case, > both penguins (order Sphenisciformes) and auks or alcids (order > Charadriiformes ? this includes auks as well as terns, gulls, plovers, > and sandpipers) have evolved the ability to swim rapidly and at depth in > ocean water to pursue fish. Through convergent evolution, both groups > have developed thick, torpedo-shaped bodies, dense plumage for warmth in > cold climates, countershaded coloration (dark above and white below), > and reduced wings that can assist in swimming by flapping underwater. > > http://www.penguinworld.com/drpenguin/common.html I know that, it is fascinating. Many things fascinate me. From MikeE at ster.invalid Sun Oct 11 07:20:35 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Sun Oct 11 07:25:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? References: Message-ID: Farelf wrote: > Why is this so difficult? Would it help if I retract my mischievous > suggestion that you ate all the northern penguins? Actually, I didn't understand - get - the nature of your joke/humor when you first presented it. You were saying that we northerners ate all of the/our northern penguins (auks). That seems a simple enough concept for a joke, but I tho't you meant something else; namely that you instead meant somehow real Spheniscidae penguins became 'extinctified' in the north. I think Syl interpreted it that way also. Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Farelf >> True (on both counts), you northern hemisphere guys ate all "your" >> penguins long ago. > What, there used to be penguins in the north?! -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From user at domain.invalid Sun Oct 11 10:54:34 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Sun Oct 11 10:55:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: happiest penguin ever? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > > Actually, I didn't understand - get - the nature of your joke/humor when > you first presented it. > > You were saying that we northerners ate all of the/our northern penguins > (auks). That seems a simple enough concept for a joke, but I tho't you > meant something else; namely that you instead meant somehow real > Spheniscidae penguins became 'extinctified' in the north. > > I think Syl interpreted it that way also. > > Nope, 'twas just a gentle leg pull Mike. But you brought up the interesting factoid that attempts to introduce the Spheniscidae to the north have always failed. Various species of those have flourished in all sorts of places even Penguin Island here in W. Aus despite (family legend has it) an ancestor of mine introducing tiger snakes to their habitat some 140 years ago. Those snakes being a fairly efficient predator of small birds on the ground. There was a hermit-type person moved there for some time, many years back. Maybe he ate the tiger snakes before they could finish off the penguins. Anyway, I wouldn't have thought the penguins were so specialized or so delicate that they (one or more species) couldn't adapt in the north or that they couldn't even when given a helping hand in modern times. So many mysteries. From me at privacy.net Sun Oct 11 15:28:49 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sun Oct 11 15:30:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Ping Charles & Indy Message-ID: www.alliedenergysystems.com Ran across this when quoting on work for our graphics studio. Out of box would work if the local relative humidity was low enough during the summer. I've not played with the thermo-godamics numbers but expect it could be later modified to work from a geo-thermal heat sink. Indy, if you have time and are inclined I'd be curious if the system could be operated efficiently as a geo-thermal heat pump? Or if the necessarey modifcations would be to expensive to be worth the effort. From nobody at spamcop.net Sun Oct 11 18:39:14 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Sun Oct 11 18:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Wow - this could be such a breakthrough Message-ID: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/health/research/09virus.html Many people with chronic fatigue syndrome are infected with a little known virus that may cause or at least contribute to their illness, researchers are reporting. he syndrome, which causes prolonged and severe fatigue, body aches and other symptoms, has long been a mystery ailment, and patients have sometimes been suspected of malingering or having psychiatric problems rather than genuine physical ones. Worldwide, 17 million people have the syndrome, including at least one million Americans...... But Dr. Mikovits said she thought the virus would turn out to be the cause, not just of chronic fatigue, but of other illnesses as well. Previous studies have found it in cells taken from prostate cancers. "I think this establishes what had always been considered a psychiatric disease as an infectious disease," said Dr. Mikovits, who is research director at the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno, a nonprofit center created by the parents of a woman who has a severe case of the syndrome. Her co-authors include scientists from the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Mikovits said she and her colleagues were drawing up plans to test antiretroviral drugs - some of the same ones used to treat HIV infection - to see whether they could help patients with chronic fatigue. If the drugs work, that will help prove that the virus is causing the illness. She said patients and doctors should wait for the studies to be finished before trying the drugs. From kenbrody at spamcop.net Sun Oct 11 21:12:02 2009 From: kenbrody at spamcop.net (Kenneth Brody) Date: Sun Oct 11 21:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: bait and switch In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > I ordered stuff online. Chose fedex ground shipping. They're shipping to > me USPS. I called BS. They wrote back, "We shipped through USPS priority > mail service which delivers your order quickly in 2-3 days than FEDEX > Ground." I don't really care when it comes in. I care that you're not > delivering the service I asked for. If they say "FedEx Ground" and you chose "FedEx Ground", rather than some generic "2nd day" or the like, then they are in the wrong to ship via anything other than FedEx Ground. If you paid by credit card, I would suggest contacting the credit card company and tell them that they did not give you what you ordered, and see what happens next. As for USPS, I hate their "tracking". With FedEx, I see where my package is all the time -- picked up, at the distribution center, put on a truck, in transit, arrived at next distribution center, etc. etc. etc. until "delivered". With USPS, I see "pickup requested", and then 4 days later "on route to local post office". -- Kenneth Brody From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 12 22:03:52 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Mon Oct 12 22:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Since the growing season is over... References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA2DE08656BCTheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > Sheesh. One little hard frost and NOAA won't give us frost warnings > anymore. Since, "the growing season is over." Well. I don't know how > the > leeks would feel about that, buddy, but probably not really happy! I just picked tomatoes today (good old Supersweet 100's can't beat 'em, and my fave new one, Pink Accordian), and my Anaheim chilis, and I still have swiss chard, lettuce, mesclun mix and zucchini - we haven't had a killing frost yet but since Wed's low is supposed to be 31 I guess we won't escape it for long. Poop, what a short and wierd season.... From borgholio at storymind.com Tue Oct 13 01:18:14 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Tue Oct 13 01:20:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Payday...woot! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Borgholio wrote: > Sylvesterthekat wrote: >> Borgholio wrote in >> news:hankfc$3nk$1@news.spamcop.net: >>> Well my second payday at my new job. Direct deposit makes it fun to >>> wake up in the morning to see a fresh deposit there. :) I'm about >>> done with training (finally) so soon I will be going on the floor. >>> For some reason I worry that I'll totally suck as a salesman and I >>> won't be keeping the job... >> >> Excellent! If nothing else you've gotten a couple of paychecks out of >> the experience. But hopefully you'll do well at it. How do you like it >> there, any good folks? > > All good folks...very nice people. I like it there. :) First day on the floor went well. Passed pretty quickly once I started actually doing stuff. Sold a few hundred bucks worth of tools and equipment. They want me back tomorrow for a full 8-hour day. A week and a half ago I put in a request to have Halloween evening off to spend time with my family (I could work a full shift in the morning and be off by 4 or 5pm no problem). I gently reminded my manager today about it and he said it shouldn't be a problem. So that means I can do Halloween this year. Double Yay! From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 13 17:56:55 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Tue Oct 13 18:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Wow - this could be such a breakthrough In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Heidi" wrote in message news:hatmqo$c2s$1@news.spamcop.net... > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/health/research/09virus.html > Dr. Mikovits said she and her colleagues were drawing up plans to test > antiretroviral drugs - some of the same ones used to treat HIV infection - > to see whether they could help patients with chronic fatigue. If the drugs > work, that will help prove that the virus is causing the illness. She said > patients and doctors should wait for the studies to be finished before > trying the drugs. > The blood pressure med Benicar my Lyme doc prescribed for me after the first two I tried didn't work is actually used in the Marshall Protocol (http://www.marshallprotocol.com/forum2/364.html) for treating the 3rd stage of Lyme disease (CWD), which is when it invades individual cells and is completely hidden from the immune system. So I'm not surprised to hear that some other anti-viral or anti-bacterial meds may also help with CFS patients. Some of the dietary supplements I take as part of the Marshall Protocol also have natural bug fighting properties. Speaking of which, I started a new med today -- oral Colchicine. The IV Colchicine treatments I got 2 years ago reduced the herniation in my L5 disk that was causing horrendous sciatica in my right leg, and we also believed that it dissolved some osterophytes (bone spurs) in my surgically repaired neck because my neck pain disappeared for over a year and a half. I've been getting different kinds of PT 2-3 days/week, all out of pocket, for the last 2 months, because my neck is acting up again. I think the bone spurs have grown back -- we saw them on an x-ray taken about a year after my disk replacement because my neck was still bothering me. Oral Colchicine is normally used to treat gout, but it's nowhere near as powerful as the off-label and now banned IV Colchicine treatment for disk herniations/osteophytes. I Need to go to my ortho guy to get an x-ray to see what's up. If I'm right about the bone spurs, might have to go under the knife again -- I'll never be able to return to work with my neck causing the rest of my body to lock up in response. I also discovered something REALLY interesting last week: I was a "footling breech birth baby", meaning I was born backwards. Footling breech births are very traumatic for the fetus and can lead to future problems like hip dysplasia because the baby is typically delivered one leg first (like I was), so your hips come out of the vaginal canal twisted (gee, who do we know that's been seeing a chiropractor every month for 20 years to have his hips re-adjusted?). A breech birth can also lead to weak/loose ligaments because of the tugging and pulling on the baby's limbs while trying to turn him around in the womb, and if you're born face up you can cause damage to the C1/C2 vertabrae because the mother's pubic bone smashes the baby's chin down onto his chest. Guess which vertabrae keeps popping out of place in my neck? CEE-ONE! It get so bad sometimes that the first 3 fingers on my left hand tingle or feel numbish, just like they did before I had my surgeries. Man, I sure hope this oral gout drug works! From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Oct 14 22:35:49 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Oct 14 22:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > Building a house is so much fun that I think I want to do it all of the > time. Every minute of every day. For the rest of eternity. Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away.... ... a series of events, mostly unwanted, led to my building a house. Some parts went very slowly, some parts went very quickly, almost amazingly so. One of the amazingly fast parts was the part that the framing (sub)contractors did. All of a sudden, the framework for the whole house was 'instantly' done. I was so amazed that I found a way to get up on the 'roof' -- the top part of the 2nd story frame - and kind of run around up there. There are some pictures of that, along with a number of other pics of the framing part; which framing data/detail later on turned out to be very useful for discovering unknown information about invisible stuff and where it could be found inside the walls or ceilings or such. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From borgholio at storymind.com Thu Oct 15 01:35:50 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Thu Oct 15 01:40:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > Building a house is so much fun that I think I want to do it all of the > time. Every minute of every day. For the rest of eternity. I'd say "you're nuts" but all the SC regulars have been aware of that fact for quite awhile now. From jwjr at poSPAMSUCKSbox.com Thu Oct 15 10:00:26 2009 From: jwjr at poSPAMSUCKSbox.com (J. Weaver Jr.) Date: Thu Oct 15 10:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > Building a house is so much fun that I think I want to do it all of the > time. Every minute of every day. For the rest of eternity. Will it _seeming_ like eternity be enough? -JW From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 15 10:21:07 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 15 10:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA544B7D7EBATheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : No way it was me! It was Borgholio ! : : > I'd say "you're nuts" but all the SC regulars have been aware of that : > fact for quite awhile now. : : My builder is driving me crazy. How are we to tell? From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 15 13:09:23 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 15 13:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > My builder is driving me crazy. Yabbut are *you* driving your /builder/ crazy? If so, then it would be tit for tat. You /are/ the customer but he is (supposed to be) the '_professional_'. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From borgholio at storymind.com Thu Oct 15 13:10:53 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Thu Oct 15 13:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Payday...woot! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Borgholio wrote in > news:harobn$koi$1@news.spamcop.net: > > >> All good folks...very nice people. I like it there. :) >> > > Excellent. Come across any dick-like customers yet? A few but they're really not that bad. :) From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 15 14:45:08 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 15 14:45:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> You /are/ the customer but he is (supposed to be) the '_professional_'. > > They're doing well at not reacting to my emails. Save those emails. Later on when something doesn't quite work out OK, you can say, "See. I said (told you)..." Then he has to choose between, "Yeah, but we thought..." -or- "I didn't get that email." -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 15 17:38:16 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 15 17:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA5A73B7ADE8TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : Hands up all who love winter! I go for snow cones in August. From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 15 17:57:46 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Bar0) Date: Thu Oct 15 18:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white References: Message-ID: "David Dean" wrote in message news:v8ltfuv02-1DA45E.13453415102009@killface.local... > In article , > Charles wrote: > >> Hands up all who love winter! > > :::raising hand::: > -- > -David not me!! From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 15 17:58:13 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Bar0) Date: Thu Oct 15 18:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white References: Message-ID: "Frog Prince" wrote in message news:hb84rd$i6e$1@news.spamcop.net... > > "Charles" wrote in message > news:Xns9CA5A73B7ADE8TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > : Hands up all who love winter! > > I go for snow cones in August. > That's more my style From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 15 20:50:49 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Thu Oct 15 20:55:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Payday...woot! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hb12iv$o2n$1@news.spamcop.net... >> All good folks...very nice people. I like it there. :) > > First day on the floor went well. Passed pretty quickly once I started > actually doing stuff. Sold a few hundred bucks worth of tools and > equipment. They want me back tomorrow for a full 8-hour day. All sounds good. Where are you working again? If push ever came to shove I'd probably make a decent salesman in electronics (A/V equipment store), household repairs (think Home Depot), or dietary supplements (like in Mother's Organic Grocery store, mebbe Whole foods, never been in one to see their homeopathic selection). I know more than I want to about 2 out of the 3 areas! But put me in a clothing or shoe store, forget about it.....they'd fire me the first day, I just don't care about that stuff execept for the rare occasion I'm on the hunt for a new "outfit", which only occurs every 2-3 years. From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 15 20:51:26 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 15 20:55:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > These people are pissing me off - they can't build my > house for me. It sounds like either y'all need to be able to get along better or not at all. It is better to mediate this disturbance in a cooperative informal manner with everyone bending a little bit than for it to end up in court with a court appointed mediator. Or worse yet with no mediator and everyone all lawyered up. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 15 21:00:36 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Thu Oct 15 21:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA544B7D7EBATheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > No way it was me! It was Borgholio ! > >> I'd say "you're nuts" but all the SC regulars have been aware of that >> fact for quite awhile now. > > My builder is driving me crazy. That kind of reminds me of a question - when vinegar turns bad, what does it turn inTO? ;D From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 15 21:03:12 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Thu Oct 15 21:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Ping Charles & Indy In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Frog Prince" wrote in message news:hatblc$823$1@news.spamcop.net... > www.alliedenergysystems.com > > Ran across this when quoting on work for our graphics studio. > > Out of box would work if the local relative humidity was low enough during > the summer. I've not played with the thermo-godamics numbers but expect > it > could be later modified to work from a geo-thermal heat sink. > > Indy, if you have time and are inclined I'd be curious if the system could > be operated efficiently as a geo-thermal heat pump? Or if the necessarey > modifcations would be to expensive to be worth the effort. > > Looking at the data sheet, one thing stood out -- it uses scroll compressors -- they're much more efficient than other types. As far as the local humidity goes, off the top of my head it shouldn't be a big problem as the heat exhanger runs pretty hot relative to the air temp (ever stood over the exhaust blower/cooling fan of your airco unit? The air is hot as hell! Overall, this is a really neat idea and I like it -- it would work in the southern areas even better since the tape heaters required to keep the water supply lines from freezing wouldn't come into play in most cases. As far as your question "could it be operated efficiently as a geo-thermal heat pump", I'm not quite sure what you're after here. The water that comes out of your spigot is nearly as cold as it would get if the line were 20 ft underground, so increasing the efficiency by lowering the temp of the water spraying on the evaporator doesn't come in to play -- what you get out of the tap is about as cold as your going to get. Now if you're asking me if it could work in reverse, acting as a heat source, the answer would be no, without significant and costly modifications. Airco units don't have the proper plumbing and equipment to work as heaters. From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 15 21:05:59 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Thu Oct 15 21:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: big brother is watching you References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA5C33697DF7TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > No way it was me! It was Sylvesterthekat ! > Companies who send you mail and who have an "address correction > requestion" note on their dispatches get informed (for a small price). > And > you get screwed. What he said - some mail other than first class doesn't get forwarded, it just gets dumped, but you should get your regular mail forwarded for a whole year before it gets spun. You must be having some third class garbage being notifed so they can update your address, and at least it COSTS them something, but if you wanted to get rid of junk mail, they're not helping.... From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 15 21:58:28 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 15 22:10:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: big brother is watching you References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CA545CDCA035sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : ok so as you all probably know, we recently moved and used the usps's : redirection service. they then 'helpfully' pass this on to everyone as i've : subsequently had messages from institutions that i did not inform of my : move that they have changed my address : : "We wanted to let you know that we recently updated the mailing address we : have in our database to match the address the United States Postal Service : has for your household." : : WTF is up with that?! Suppose I didn't WANT them to know my new address? : : I guess if you don't want everyone to know, you don't tell the post office. : But then they'd probably still put two and two together even if you didn't : officially change your address.... I used a mail forwarding service in N Texas that is available to RV folk. They dump the junk and send me the good stuff however often I ask. I then notify those that I want to have the new address by direct mail which by the way has a form notice that the information is for their internal use and is NOT to be shared under any circumstances. BTW the PO charges for change of address notification. From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Thu Oct 15 22:17:31 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Thu Oct 15 22:20:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles said the following on 16/10/09 07:26: > Hands up all who love winter! I was this close to the first winter ever without snow. Well, does snow in Mongolia back last October count? I don't think that counts as the same winter. But no matter, two weeks ago hiking up in the foothills around here, it was raining and at the top of one of the mountains there was a tiny bit of snow. So, tick, got snow in this year and onto summer now. Got the garden in and if I can keep the snails and slugs away, should be a pretty good variety of things to eat this summer. Damn things already got most of my zuchinni seedlings. But I have time to sort that out. Haven't been working the last few weeks and the market seems pretty soft. Not sure I want to write software anymore anyways. Seems time for a career change. Anybody have a handle on how to make a living out of writing? I've got lots of travel writing around. Looking at volunteering at local environmental concerns around here, would love to see how to work something to do with sustainability into a new career somehow. From gezgin at spamcop.net.which.is.not.invalid Thu Oct 15 23:19:12 2009 From: gezgin at spamcop.net.which.is.not.invalid (Gezgin) Date: Thu Oct 15 23:20:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA5A73B7ADE8TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > Hands up all who love winter! Winter is icumen in, Lhude sing Goddamm, Raineth drop and staineth slop, And how the wind doth ramm! Sing: Goddamm. Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us, An ague hath my ham. Freezeth river, turneth liver, Damm you; Sing: Goddamm. Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm, So 'gainst the winter's balm. Sing goddamm, damm, sing goddamm, Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM. (Ezra Pound, 1885-1972) -- Bob http://www.kanyak.com From user at domain.invalid Fri Oct 16 00:10:23 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Fri Oct 16 00:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mr K. Mean wrote: > > But I have time to sort that out. Haven't been working the last few > weeks and the market seems pretty soft. Not sure I want to write > software anymore anyways. Seems time for a career change. Anybody have a > handle on how to make a living out of writing? ... Ouch, many have wished ... Here's a guy who did both - http://www.gregegan.net/ Even he, selling stories since 1983 and with umpteen volumes now published (well, 13), found it useful to keep his hand in with his 'day job' for another 9 years. But, maybe some sort of inspiration - I'm sure if he was a bit more "Gregarious" he could have made the leap sooner. There are opportunities to work for a salary in non-fiction of course (but more competition). I guess that's more what you're thinking about. > ... Looking at volunteering at local environmental concerns > around here, would love to see how to work something to do with > sustainability into a new career somehow. Well, if ever there was a time to get into that area, it would be now. And volunteering is a good way to make contacts, and maybe come to attention if you stay focussed (and keep watching the job vacancies). Letter to the newspapers and magazines (New Scientist, etc.) is another way to wave the flag. {shudder} you might consider working for one of the political parties - Bob Brown could use a clue or two. Good luck. From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Oct 16 00:21:00 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Fri Oct 16 00:25:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building References: Message-ID: Heidi wrote: > That kind of reminds me of a question - when vinegar turns bad, what > does it turn inTO? ;D Acetic acid is called 'non-degradeable' - in that it is a very stable organic compound. But it can be decomposed in various ways with catalysts and heat and photo-degradation. For example, titanium-based catalysts with hydrogen peroxide to create an oxidizing environment plus ultraviolet light works very well according to a paper^1 I found. Vinegar keeps very well since that environment doesn't happen much in the kitchen. If you get it really hot in the right kind of conditions^2, you can degrade it into methane and CO2, or send it into a number of other pathways. ^1 Decomposition of acetic acid by advanced oxidation processes ^2 High-temperature kinetics of thermal decomposition of acetic acid and its products -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Oct 16 00:45:33 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Fri Oct 16 00:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white References: Message-ID: Gezgin wrote: > > Winter is icumen in, > Lhude sing Goddamm, > Raineth drop and staineth slop, > And how the wind doth ramm! > Sing: Goddamm. > Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us, > An ague hath my ham. > Freezeth river, turneth liver, > Damm you; Sing: Goddamm. > Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm, > So 'gainst the winter's balm. > Sing goddamm, damm, sing goddamm, > Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM. > > (Ezra Pound, 1885-1972) > Pound parodied an ancient middle English song/lyric Sumer is ycomen in, Loude sing cuckou! Groweth seed and bloweth meed, And springth the wode now. Sing cuckou! Ewe bleteth after lamb, Loweth after calve cow, Bulloc sterteth, bucke verteth, Merye sing cuckou! Cuckou, cuckou, Wel singest thou cuckou: Ne swik thou never now! Translates to, if you aren't into middle English.... Summer has come, Loudly sing cuckoo! Groweth seed and blooms mead And springs the wood now. Sing cuckoo! Ewe bleats after lamb, Lows after calf the cow, Bullock starts, buck farts; Merrily sing cuckoo! Cuckoo! cuckoo! Well sing thou cuckoo. Cease thou never now! Sing cuckoo now, Sing cuckoo! Sing cuckoo, Sing cuckoo now! ... which cuckoo song, however it might be spelled over the years, dating from 1240 AD, is allegedly the oldest mechanically printed song in the English language. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 16 01:39:52 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 16 01:40:10 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > Hands up all who love winter! What winter? It's going to be 90 tomorrow. From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 16 01:41:37 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 16 01:45:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Payday...woot! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Indigo wrote: > > "Borgholio" wrote in message > news:hb12iv$o2n$1@news.spamcop.net... >>> All good folks...very nice people. I like it there. :) >> >> First day on the floor went well. Passed pretty quickly once I >> started actually doing stuff. Sold a few hundred bucks worth of tools >> and equipment. They want me back tomorrow for a full 8-hour day. > > All sounds good. Where are you working again? > Sears From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 16 06:31:04 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Fri Oct 16 06:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hb90vc$s0p$1@news.spamcop.net... > Charles wrote: >> Hands up all who love winter! > > What winter? It's going to be 90 tomorrow. It was snowing this morning when I got up....boo hoo..... From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Oct 16 07:49:40 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Fri Oct 16 07:50:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: >"Mike Easter" >> It is better to mediate this disturbance in a cooperative informal >> manner with everyone bending a little bit than for it to end up in >> court with a court appointed mediator. > > I would just walk away. It's only money. And we're working through > things. My level of frustration waxes and wanes. I doubt that you could simply 'walk away' (easily). That is, you would get your attorney to tell you how much money it would cost you to terminate this contract and how to resolve the incomplete issues. I'm sure it is a great deal more than you have already put into it and if you own the land it would be tied up with the liens and worthless to you until the suits were all settled. It's only money (and also property), but how much money would it turn out to be and what about the property? When you break off a contracted job and it wasn't entirely the fault of the contractor, the contractor thinks they have a lot of time and 'contracting work' and obligations to others tied up in the project. Some of those people start creating liens before they do a lick of work. I'm glad to hear that you are working thru' things. Ideally you and the 'boss' of the firm could sit down and talk and figure out a strategy so as to minimize the amount of grief each of you causes the other. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Oct 16 12:24:18 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Fri Oct 16 12:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Publicity hounds Message-ID: I'm glad the beeb and others are taking the reality TV Heene family to task. Maybe child protective services should look into how the parents are stressing this kid for the sake of the publicity and gain. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8310121.stm Balloon boy father denies TV fake snippages: //Police say they intend to re-interview the family.... Speaking hesitantly at first, Falcon answered: "You had said that we did this for a show." ... Falcon himself became ill while his father was asked direct questions about whether or not they had staged an elaborate hoax. - During one interview on NBC's Today show, Falcon vomited live on air as Mr Heene sought to explain his son's comments. ... Mr Heene battled on while his son was being sick, // Naturally the media feeds all of this; now they get it all ways, breathtaking balloon chase followed by tearful reunion followed by accusations, denials, recriminations and even more publicity. Maybe later we'll have it on court TV and Falcon will have a spinoff reality TV show with his new foster family. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 16 13:32:47 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 16 13:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Borgholio wrote in news:hb90vc$s0p$1 > @news.spamcop.net: > >> Charles wrote: >>> Hands up all who love winter! >> What winter? It's going to be 90 tomorrow. >> > > Damn humid yesterday eh wot? I loved the rain but 2 days of it was > sufficient lol. I guess I'll have to have the AC on today, haven't used it > in a few weeks. I just took mine out of the window the other day too. :-/ From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 16 13:34:08 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 16 13:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Publicity hounds In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > I'm glad the beeb and others are taking the reality TV Heene family to > task. > > Maybe child protective services should look into how the parents are > stressing this kid for the sake of the publicity and gain. > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8310121.stm Balloon boy father > denies TV fake > > snippages: //Police say they intend to re-interview the family.... > Speaking hesitantly at first, Falcon answered: "You had said that we did > this for a show." ... Falcon himself became ill while his father was > asked direct questions about whether or not they had staged an elaborate > hoax. - During one interview on NBC's Today show, Falcon vomited live on > air as Mr Heene sought to explain his son's comments. ... Mr Heene > battled on while his son was being sick, // > > > Naturally the media feeds all of this; now they get it all ways, > breathtaking balloon chase followed by tearful reunion followed by > accusations, denials, recriminations and even more publicity. Maybe > later we'll have it on court TV and Falcon will have a spinoff reality > TV show with his new foster family. > > This family actually lived on our street a few years back. One of my neighbors owns the house in which they lived...she was interviewed last night about them. From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 16 14:47:27 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 16 14:50:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA65E40A88B8TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : It wasn't me! It was Sylvesterthekat ! : : > No really, did you check their rating before you hired them? I wouldn't : > hire someone with less than an A. : : Didn't check. This is a tiny town - bad reputations get out very quickly : and are widely known. They do good work. I just need to get to the point : where we're doing work! There is obviously a builders allowance for appliances etc. What you'll have to do is get the numbers and look at what's available within the budget. The game is to push on those things that have meaning to your needs and be prepared to give up on what does not. As example we would push for high efficiency water heartier and a very low noise dishwasher. Would be nice to have a high end garbage disposal but low end would work and they are not hard to replace in a year or so ergo we transfer budget from garbage disposal to other more critical items. From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 16 18:31:25 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 16 18:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > 10 years of my life committed suicide this morning. FUCKING SHIT. FUCKING > SHIT FUCKING SHIT. FUCK THAT FUCKING SHIT. FUCK THIS FUCKING SHIT ALL TO > HELL. fuck Eh? From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 16 19:55:02 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 16 19:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > No way it was me! It was Borgholio ! > >> Eh? > > My ex FUCKING KILLED HERSELF. Dude. Why? From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 16 20:30:54 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 16 20:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: omfg in melbourne In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=7068087 > > or > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ4iLPLAsC0 Think the mother would appreciate it if we bought an HO scale train set for the baby at Christmas? From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 16 23:52:08 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Fri Oct 16 23:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Publicity hounds References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:hba6ni$af8$1@news.spamcop.net... > > snippages: //Police say they intend to re-interview the family.... > Speaking hesitantly at first, Falcon answered: "You had said that we did > this for a show." ... Falcon himself became ill while his father was > asked direct questions about whether or not they had staged an elaborate > hoax. - During one interview on NBC's Today show, Falcon vomited live on > air as Mr Heene sought to explain his son's comments. ... Mr Heene > battled on while his son was being sick, // > > > Naturally the media feeds all of this; now they get it all ways, > breathtaking balloon chase followed by tearful reunion followed by > accusations, denials, recriminations and even more publicity. Maybe > later we'll have it on court TV and Falcon will have a spinoff reality > TV show with his new foster family. I totally did NOT buy his story, my gut tells me that this guy did it as a stunt, as he has done so many times before with his kids, (to the point of falling out with people who think he's insane and puts his kids at risk all the time, like when storm chasing). He was jumpy, awkward, didn't have once sincere syllable in what he said. I also think the kid was vomiting from stress, because he said something he shouldn't have said and now his father is lying to cover up for it. That father gives me the creeps, total famewhore. From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 16 23:56:24 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 17 00:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Publicity hounds References: Message-ID: "Heidi" wrote in message news:hbbf1f$upi$1@news.spamcop.net... : : "Mike Easter" wrote in message : news:hba6ni$af8$1@news.spamcop.net... : > : > snippages: //Police say they intend to re-interview the family.... : > Speaking hesitantly at first, Falcon answered: "You had said that we did : > this for a show." ... Falcon himself became ill while his father was : > asked direct questions about whether or not they had staged an elaborate : > hoax. - During one interview on NBC's Today show, Falcon vomited live on : > air as Mr Heene sought to explain his son's comments. ... Mr Heene : > battled on while his son was being sick, // : > : > : > Naturally the media feeds all of this; now they get it all ways, : > breathtaking balloon chase followed by tearful reunion followed by : > accusations, denials, recriminations and even more publicity. Maybe : > later we'll have it on court TV and Falcon will have a spinoff reality : > TV show with his new foster family. : : I totally did NOT buy his story, my gut tells me that this guy did it as a : stunt, as he has done so many times before with his kids, (to the point of : falling out with people who think he's insane and puts his kids at risk all : the time, like when storm chasing). He was jumpy, awkward, didn't have once : sincere syllable in what he said. I also think the kid was vomiting from : stress, because he said something he shouldn't have said and now his father : is lying to cover up for it. That father gives me the creeps, total : famewhore. Regardless with all the publicity and child protective serves involved he has more than he can say grace over even if he can keep the story straight. Guilty or innocent he needs a good lawyer. From borgholio at storymind.com Sat Oct 17 04:46:40 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Sat Oct 17 04:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Woman has Balls... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > ...and drives off home invaders with them! > > (Pool balls, that is.) > > http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1648889.html > > "'I heard something outside, and I went to the front door where I heard > these two men talking quietly,' said Ollie, who had been cleaning the > house. 'They didn?t ring the doorbell or knock. I put my ear to the door > and I sensed that something was wrong.' > Without thinking of calling 911, Ollie plotted her attack. She grabbed > her son?s bike helmet and loaded it with billiard balls. Hours later, > she couldn?t remember how many she had taken.' > > She then climbed on the roof and flung pool balls at them, driving them > off! > > Not real smart, but ... innovative. > > "'We recommend that people call 911 if they see strangers at their > home,' North Richland Hills Investigator Keith Bauman said." > > Oh, while pelting the do-bads with pool balls, she was yelling "Death > from above!" > > No shit. Wonder how fast the anti-gun bunch will be pushing the > registration of the Q ball. > > > Just got around to watching this, then read some of the comments. I tend to agree with two in particular: 1. Liar 2. Meth head From jwjr at poSPAMSUCKSbox.com Sat Oct 17 09:36:17 2009 From: jwjr at poSPAMSUCKSbox.com (J. Weaver Jr.) Date: Sat Oct 17 09:40:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > So how long do I wait before I start being "helpful"? And to whom do I > offer my help? She's been with this guy for 2 years. Does that mean that > he's going to take care of everything? Who do I ask to figure things out? > I mean, I still have shared bank and online accounts with this woman. > Shit. Fuck. Damn. If you still have shared financial interests, get in there _now_, before they magically disappear. -JW From MikeE at ster.invalid Sat Oct 17 09:49:39 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Sat Oct 17 09:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > She sent me a package a week ago. We've email 6 or 7 times in the past > month including 5 days ago. She was very positive about some things > and a bit negative about life's usual negative things (the commute, > moving, etc). That is very interesting. That would cause me to guess that either -1- she wasn't sharing with you her true depressed feelings, which seems surprising for a friendly ex- relationship -or- -2- maybe it was something other than intentional suicide. What was the cause of death? -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 17 11:50:59 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 17 11:55:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Woman has Balls... References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hbc09j$5i0$1@news.spamcop.net... : Frog Prince wrote: : > ...and drives off home invaders with them! : > : > (Pool balls, that is.) : > : > http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1648889.html : > : > "'I heard something outside, and I went to the front door where I heard : > these two men talking quietly,' said Ollie, who had been cleaning the : > house. 'They didnšt ring the doorbell or knock. I put my ear to the door : > and I sensed that something was wrong.' : > Without thinking of calling 911, Ollie plotted her attack. She grabbed : > her sonšs bike helmet and loaded it with billiard balls. Hours later, : > she couldnšt remember how many she had taken.' : > : > She then climbed on the roof and flung pool balls at them, driving them : > off! : > : > Not real smart, but ... innovative. : > : > "'We recommend that people call 911 if they see strangers at their : > home,' North Richland Hills Investigator Keith Bauman said." : > : > Oh, while pelting the do-bads with pool balls, she was yelling "Death : > from above!" : > : > No shit. Wonder how fast the anti-gun bunch will be pushing the : > registration of the Q ball. : : Just got around to watching this, then read some of the comments. I tend : to agree with two in particular: : : 1. Liar : 2. Meth head She's not far from here (<30 miles as the crow flies) and I've spoken with some of her neighbors. If your list refers to the Ball Lady neither are factual this assessment based on comments from people that know her personally. If these do bads had come poking around my house or my son's house they could well end up dead. By way of clarification my kids are foster to adopt and have been credibly threatened by the birth families. As to calling 911 my kids are on a priority dispatch list (if a call comes in the dispatcher rolls a unit immediately and clarifies the call after the fact) Even so time from call to get there can be up to 10 min. Again this from real world experience. From MikeE at ster.invalid Sat Oct 17 12:12:18 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Sat Oct 17 12:15:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > Well, she has shared and not shared with me other the years. I guess > the sharing has typically come after the healing process has begun. Since I try to avoid speaking in psychobabble, I don't recognize the term 'healing process' -- you'll have to speak in plainer language for a simple country boy's ears. How come you know she is dead but you don't know what appears to be the cause of death? Is the person who told you she is dead/ committed suicide/ completely sure she is (actually) dead? How do they know that? Did they see her? Did someone tell them something? Is there any way that you can communicate with a more meaningful/direct source of information? -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From borgholio at storymind.com Sat Oct 17 12:44:13 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Sat Oct 17 12:45:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Woman has Balls... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > > She's not far from here (<30 miles as the crow flies) and I've spoken with > some of her neighbors. If your list refers to the Ball Lady neither are > factual this assessment based on comments from people that know her > personally. > > If these do bads had come poking around my house or my son's house they > could well end up dead. By way of clarification my kids are foster to adopt > and have been credibly threatened by the birth families. > > As to calling 911 my kids are on a priority dispatch list (if a call comes > in the dispatcher rolls a unit immediately and clarifies the call after the > fact) Even so time from call to get there can be up to 10 min. Again this > from real world experience. > Well her attitude doesn't seem like one would expect from a woman home alone who was about to be subject to a break-in and who knows what else. More importantly, however, many of her details aren't very credible. For example, she mentioned that one of the guys was by her front door and she also mentioned she closed the garage door. They're about 3 feet apart, how would the prowler not know about it? Plus, "Death from Above"? Please... From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 17 13:01:43 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 17 13:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Woman has Balls... References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hbcs8v$f2l$1@news.spamcop.net... : Frog Prince wrote: : > : > She's not far from here (<30 miles as the crow flies) and I've spoken with : > some of her neighbors. If your list refers to the Ball Lady neither are : > factual this assessment based on comments from people that know her : > personally. : > : > If these do bads had come poking around my house or my son's house they : > could well end up dead. By way of clarification my kids are foster to adopt : > and have been credibly threatened by the birth families. : > : > As to calling 911 my kids are on a priority dispatch list (if a call comes : > in the dispatcher rolls a unit immediately and clarifies the call after the : > fact) Even so time from call to get there can be up to 10 min. Again this : > from real world experience. : > : : Well her attitude doesn't seem like one would expect from a woman home : alone who was about to be subject to a break-in and who knows what else. : More importantly, however, many of her details aren't very credible. For : example, she mentioned that one of the guys was by her front door and she : also mentioned she closed the garage door. They're about 3 feet apart, : how would the prowler not know about it? Plus, "Death from Above"? Please... You never know what you or anyone will do when presented with a danger situation. I recall a video on one of the AFT shows or some such where a 80 something old lady took a bat to a robber in her jewelry store. I know of one old gal that knocked an intruder senseless, hog tied the guy and rolled him out in the yard onto a fire ant nest then call the sheriff. My daughter had a break in, got the drop on the guy then called the police. Took the cops over 30 min to get to the house. If it had been me there likely would have been only one story. From MikeE at ster.invalid Sat Oct 17 13:16:42 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Sat Oct 17 13:20:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: >"Mike Easter" >> Is the person who told you she is dead/ committed suicide/ completely >> sure she is (actually) dead? > > Yes. I still say you *try* to be intentionally opaque. I enjoy working crossword puzzles. Not 'mind' reading. snipped: Mike Easter wrote: > How do they know that? Did they see her? > Did someone tell them something? Is there any way that you can > communicate with a more meaningful/direct source of information? -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Sat Oct 17 14:07:39 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Sat Oct 17 14:10:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > I'm considering grief counseling because > regardless of the reason I do feel guilt - I think that is an absolutely great idea. > Mind you, I already know what the therapist will say and I'm not falling > for it. Therapists or counselors are like anything else - alleged automechanics, alleged software coders, alleged website builders - they come in all varieties of competency and value. And you won't know what you've got until you get there, because someone else's opinion about that may likely not be worth very much. > That and having > moved and not being with her cat any longer Oh, dear. What became of the cat? > She > sent me a pile of CDs last week - saying that she knew I'd like them > and that they were from the era when she liked music Oh dear. > (in retrospect the > bit about formerly liking music _could_ have been a signal to me that > something was seriously wrong). Ummhmm. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Sat Oct 17 14:25:07 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Sat Oct 17 14:25:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > I can imagine what the therapist will say, at any rate. I doubt it. A good counselor's forte is in how they listen, not how they talk. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 17 14:27:08 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 17 14:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA75821917E8TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : So how long do I wait before I start being "helpful"? And to whom do I : offer my help? She's been with this guy for 2 years. Does that mean that : he's going to take care of everything? Who do I ask to figure things out? : I mean, I still have shared bank and online accounts with this woman. : Shit. Fuck. Damn. Check carefully you may have right of survivor which means all the money there is legally yours. You may also be the beneficiary of life insurance. Most policies require an active conversion ( a simple divorce degree does not make much happen) Lacking a will you may be a legal beneficiary of her estate. for the most part that's a state specific legal matter and you will need to consult with an estate attorney. As example my wife's grand mother was married and divorced at a young age. She had a daughter by the man and despite the divorce she and the kid were the only legal heirs. This did not come to light until almost 90 years after the old boy died and only as part of a due diligence search on the part of a title company. From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 17 14:29:30 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 17 14:35:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA78B7C5AB47TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : It was Charles ! : : > I suppose I could : > try to be clever and expand my search to the area and stop looking for : > the name. : : FUCK. You (ME) are, obviously correct. I need more information. Google : is not my friend and is not putting my mind at rest. And, no, I'm not : going to be any more forthcoming in a public forum. Wise. From avoozl at spamcop.net Sat Oct 17 17:36:22 2009 From: avoozl at spamcop.net (Chris F. Willoughby) Date: Sat Oct 17 17:40:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA7A7EB89A8FTheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... >I now have the right contact. I have a lot more of the information (that > I'm not going to share here). Within 24 hours of our last contact (a > positive one) she was already on the way towards her end. I do not have > all of the information, but I feel that some of what I already gave sums a > fair deal of it up. She had moved for the guy, she was having problems in > that relationship and felt (rightly so - see discussion on seniority > points) that she was stuck in that locality. She didn't "want to go > through this again" (whatever the "this" was in her head) and ended it. > I'm sorry man.. I'm sure there isn't much I can say that would help at this point. I hope, eventually, some good can come out of all this. Chris From nobody at spamcop.net Sat Oct 17 18:22:16 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (bar0) Date: Sat Oct 17 18:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: building References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:hb8sb7$qrp$1@news.spamcop.net... > Heidi wrote: > >> That kind of reminds me of a question - when vinegar turns bad, what >> does it turn inTO? ;D > ... > ^1 Decomposition of acetic acid by advanced oxidation processes > ^2 High-temperature kinetics of thermal decomposition of acetic acid and > its products You can mix it with bicarb in the kitchen. It decomposes to harmless stuff under those circumstances. From MikeE at ster.invalid Sat Oct 17 20:26:45 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Sat Oct 17 20:30:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Moving along through life References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > So, yeah, as a student, with her, I > didn't have a lot of money. We drank $15 bottles (I drank $15 bottles) > of scotch. I certainly don't want to disrupt whatever healing process you are experiencing about this scotch, especially if sniffing a particular selection is useful or reminiscent to that recollection/recall process -- but during my student life as a single person who was living happily on student loans and no wifely support, I was drinking beer and it was Lone Star and not Schlitz because at that time Schlitz was actually a premium beer and I tho't I should put off enjoying Schlitz for some later time. Later on the Schlitz turned out to be not better. And it went away. Since those years, I've spent a few bucks on some single malts and some other and more bucks later on sitting in specialty bars and sampling scotches neat or with a splash of water or whatever, which bars had selections of hundreds of expensive brands to play with in that manner; but in my case it doesn't remind me of my wife of the time spending money that she would have rather spent on something more 'domestic' to appeal to your expensive tastes. Because there wasn't one of those. In my experience, the people who weren't so rich they didn't even have to *ask* how much something cost who spend X to Y number of $20 bills (or hundreds for that matter) on some bottle of scotch because they thought it was a little bit better to their palate are actually fooling themselves most of the time. Each $20 increment doesn't necessarily get a better scotch, and there are plenty of expert blind taste tests that prove that. On the other hand, if fooling yourself makes you feel better and it only costs a few hundred bucks, how can you beat that? But I don't want to rain on the scotch recollection parade. I like the first part of the idea where she was surely sacrificing some things that were important to her for the things that were important to you, even if she didn't see it the same way. I'm sure you did the same thing in some other and completely different way. But I don't think you should get too caught up in the $20 increments after the first few levels of y'all spending more money on expensive scotch than you should have. Besides, in the great scheme of things, it wasn't actually all that much money even cumulatively. I did *not* put healing process in quotes up there. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 17 22:07:19 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 17 22:10:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA7C69EEFE01TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : No way it was me! It was Sylvesterthekat ! : : > Something drastic must have happened then. Was there anything odd : > about the package? : : There was nothing really odd about it. She used to send these to me all of : the time. 5, 6, 7 years ago. She must have stopped about 4 years ago : since these are all NIB and are all about 4 years old. Something drastic : happened? I think that the drastic thing that happened was that she must : have decided, 2-3 weeks ago, that she was going to do it and she wanted : everything to be taken care of before she did. I wonder what other : provisions she made... She broke off with her BF. She sent some letters. : Oh, I want a letter and I want to know but I _so_ do not want a letter - I : so do not want to be the cause. Of course, the letter would (I wrote will. : Oops) say, "You're not the cause." Like, duh? Of course it would. Ah, : shit. A coworker's wife is a therapist. But that opens me up to having : the possibility of my coworker knowing intimate details of my life. I know : life isn't supposed to work that way, but it often does. Ah, shit. Ah : shit shit. Contact the local office of Hospice they usually have trained volunteers and most have one or more trained death councilors. They are tasked with helping their patients and their patients family but in my experience they will reach out and help anyone epically if someone makes a request. if you want send my your zip code back channel and I'll do some checking and give you a heads up on what in your area. From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 17 22:36:15 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 17 22:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA7E40766497TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : No way it was me! It was "Frog Prince" ! : : > if you want send my your zip code : : Thx. S'okay. There are plenty of options. I just need to take advantage : of some of them... Not trying to push but wanted to make mention in the event there was a need. However you approach this it's not going to easy. Try to be aware of your wife's concerns and how your kids react to your stress. From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 17 23:09:15 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 17 23:10:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Moving along through life References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA7E593A62DCTheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : No way it was me! It was "Mike Easter" ! : : > Each $20 increment doesn't necessarily get : > a better scotch, and there are plenty of expert blind taste tests that : > prove that. : : That "each" increment doesn't change something across the board, well, I'm : cool with that. Of course, I'm not talking about across the board. I'm : talking about my experience. Anecdotal evidence. And in my own experience : each $5 has made a big difference in quality. I did a taste test with a : buddy, once. When I was big into Scotch. We had 14 different bottles. : Now... Bearing in mind our own prejudices going into the thing, the : tasting was a resounding success. And it showed everything we wanted it : to. In 14, or so, Scotches that were available to us at about the same : price (about $40 a bottle). : : Of course, since then I've had the $250 bottles. And, holy shit. Well. : They were good. Alas and alack. As you point out. We didn't taste : against something else. We just got wasted. On good Scotch. Better? : Well. It sure felt like it at the time. Sure, I'd love to compare. To a : $40 Scotch? Why not? To a $15 Scotch? Nope. Blind prejudice? I sure TF : don't think so. I drank a lot of the $15 beside the $20. Was there a : difference? Hell yeah there was. Shit. Bring on the studies. It's : surely a brand difference, anyway, and not an across the board difference. As any professional bar tender and after three shots 99% of the drinker can't tell the difference. Reminds me of a joke. Guy bragged he could ID each brand of scotch and were it as bottled and when. Bar keep lined up 12 shots and the guy tage each and every one right on. bar keep took a leek into a 13th glass. guy to a shot, then a second and admitted he could not tell but he did say that whatever it was it would not sell worth a damn. From borgholio at storymind.com Sun Oct 18 01:29:26 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Sun Oct 18 01:30:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Moving along through life In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Charles wrote in > news:Xns9CA7C56F877FTheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61: > >> I went to the >> liquor store... I balked a little at the $100 bottles of scotch. But >> had no problem with getting an $80 bottle. And, you know, there is a >> difference between this and $15 bottles. A HUGE difference. Of >> course, at some point there are diminishing returns. I wonder what >> that point is? > > I think it depends on your palate, how well refined it is and a fair bit of > experience of the drink in question, be it scotch or wine or whatever. I > read a great book about a guy who was forging wines which were selling for > stupid amounts at auction. The funny part was that the so called 'experts', > when tasting these modern wines, mostly couldn't tell what they really were > and were creaming themselves over it. Being an amateur winemaker myself, I am learning a fair bit about the process. I have heard, interestingly, that a wine only gets better with age up to a certain point, usually 10 years give or take. After that point, age means nothing except how rare a particular vintage is. If a wine gets too old, it can actually DECLINE in quality. From user at domain.invalid Sun Oct 18 03:29:51 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Sun Oct 18 03:30:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: holy sh1t, is this f*cked up or what? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8312447.stm > > The winners of a quiz organised by Somali Islamists have been given weapons > and ammunition as prizes. > ... > > The quiz ran during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in the port city of > Kismayo, and included questions about the Koran and Somali geography. > ... Totally contrary to the spirit of Islam and especially 'blasphemous' (for the want of a better word) to conduct it over Ramadan. True it is a Muslim obligation to defend what is yours but it is equally so in the Jewish and Christian moral tenets and that is not what any of those religions is "about" AFAICT. Not that I'm an apologist for Islam but it is a matter of record that the irreducible obligations of Muslim faith are Shahada (testimony of faith), Salat (prayer), Zakat (almsgiving), Siyam (fasting/refraining) and Hajj (pilgrimage) and I don't see "Automat Kalashnikov" in there anywhere. I guess if you can't give people the basic necessities then give them diversions instead. They're less likely to look askance at their civil and religious 'leaders' if there's an external threat to be thinking about. A pox on religious fanatics everywhere. The good thing about them is they believe fervently in hell, the bad thing is they don't see the consequent irony of imagining they are bound for heaven. From me at privacy.net Sun Oct 18 12:10:40 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sun Oct 18 12:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CA7DE431A5AEsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : Charles wrote in : news:Xns9CA7A7EB89A8FTheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61: : : > I now have the right contact. I have a lot more of the information : > (that I'm not going to share here). Within 24 hours of our last : > contact (a positive one) she was already on the way towards her end. : > I do not have all of the information, but I feel that some of what I : > already gave sums a fair deal of it up. She had moved for the guy, : > she was having problems in that relationship and felt (rightly so - : > see discussion on seniority points) that she was stuck in that : > locality. She didn't "want to go through this again" (whatever the : > "this" was in her head) and ended it. : > : : boy, she can't have been made of very stern stuff if that's all that was : involved. no doubt you either don't have all the facts or are simplifying It's unfair and unwise to make assumptions that folk should or can tough it out when it comes to life stress. Everyone needs help at one time or other. Unfortunately Charles' X was unable to see or take advantages of any of that help. I've said before this group was a great help to me when the pain was most unbearable. I had help locally but in the dim times of the night that help was not effectively available. This group was. From me at privacy.net Sun Oct 18 12:17:10 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sun Oct 18 12:20:10 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Moving along through life References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA855810E2D6TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : No way it was me! It was "Frog Prince" ! : : > after three shots 99% of the drinker : > can't tell the difference. : : After a bottle of wine and blindfolded 99% of folks can't tell the : difference between red and white wine. After a bottle of wine most folk can't tell what world they're in ... From dfmanno at mail.com Sun Oct 18 15:06:04 2009 From: dfmanno at mail.com (D.F. Manno) Date: Sun Oct 18 15:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: holy sh1t, is this f*cked up or what? References: Message-ID: In article , Farelf wrote: > Totally contrary to the spirit of Islam and especially 'blasphemous' > (for the want of a better word) to conduct it over Ramadan. True it is > a Muslim obligation to defend what is yours but it is equally so in the > Jewish and Christian moral tenets and that is not what any of those > religions is "about" AFAICT. There are Jewish and Christian terrorists, too. Fanaticism knows no religious boundaries. -- D.F. Manno | dfmanno@mail.com "Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits." (Dan Barker, former preacher, musician, b. 1949) From user at domain.invalid Sun Oct 18 18:45:25 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Sun Oct 18 18:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: holy sh1t, is this f*cked up or what? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: D.F. Manno wrote: > > There are Jewish and Christian terrorists, too. Fanaticism knows no > religious boundaries. > Too true - that's what I meant to convey. Not forgetting Hindu etc. (not just the 'people of the scriptures'). I'm even a touch concerned by the odd/occasional Buddhist. From user at domain.invalid Sun Oct 18 19:36:01 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Sun Oct 18 19:40:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Moving along through life In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > "Charles" wrote in message > news:Xns9CA855810E2D6TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > : No way it was me! It was "Frog Prince" ! > : > : > after three shots 99% of the drinker > : > can't tell the difference. > : > : After a bottle of wine and blindfolded 99% of folks can't tell the > : difference between red and white wine. > > After a bottle of wine most folk can't tell what world they're in ... > > Reminds me, neighbour volunteered/swapped 3 bottles of home-made wine (orange, rhubarb and red grape) for a tonne and a half of sheoak. He warned me they don't keep well and I've had them a fortnight now. I must test these contentions - and toast to Charles, to life and to living, to the good memories there are - and to learn from the things we regret but, in good time, to forgive ourselves as we would forgive others. But later (fasting at the moment, imminent appointment with the surgeon). From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Sun Oct 18 22:37:59 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Sun Oct 18 22:40:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: omfg in melbourne In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat said the following on 17/10/09 10:56: > http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=7068087 > > or > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ4iLPLAsC0 Yep, I never ride the train in a baby carriage. Way too dangerous. Connex should be out of here soon though. I think they only have a few weeks left before the new train company comes in. From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Mon Oct 19 00:24:26 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Mon Oct 19 00:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike Easter said the following on 18/10/09 05:07: > Charles wrote: > >> She >> sent me a pile of CDs last week - saying that she knew I'd like them >> and that they were from the era when she liked music > > Oh dear. > >> (in retrospect the >> bit about formerly liking music _could_ have been a signal to me that >> something was seriously wrong). > > Ummhmm. Sadly, that sounds more like preparation, tidying up affairs, even if it wasn't overly conscious. Although from your perspective, there might not have been anything very visible about her state of mind or intentions. Email doesn't have visual or other clues, so you can only get out what she put into them, and if she wanted to keep some parts of her state of mind back, well... Suicide is such a strange thing to understand. My ex was (perhaps still is, don't know any more) suicidal quite often. I imagine it was harder actually being suicidal, but it was quite difficult to live with somebody who was. 13 years of my life that I am happy not have to live through again, partly for that reason. You just never knew when things would happen or how or why. So many different aspects of it too, giving up, self hatred, a cry for help, a means to control others, revenge, and so many other things, at different times, sometimes all at once. I'm not sure how I would have been if she had actually did herself in one of those times. What a horrifying thought. I feel for you. Mental illness is really awful and hard for everybody involved. From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Mon Oct 19 00:49:27 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Mon Oct 19 00:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles said the following on 18/10/09 04:28: > > So I could make the argument, pretty easily, that it had nothing to do > with me. I can take the other side of the argument, too. _She_ wanted > to keep our shared accounts alive and open. Her guy has the same > birthday I do. His son has my name. She was keeping and maintaining the > car _I_ bought new as a point of pride (165k miles on it). She sent me a > pile of CDs last week - saying that she knew I'd like them and that they > were from the era when she liked music (in retrospect the bit about > formerly liking music _could_ have been a signal to me that something was > seriously wrong). Yes, well. Look at that? Pretty tenuous and > circumstantial. Maybe I could talk myself out of being responsible. But > I am the one who left her in the first place. I am the most likely > trigger for the first crisis. But it didn't have anything to do with you. Unless of course you did horrible things to her and caused all of it, in which case you are a horrible person and I've misjudged you. But there is a big difference between not being supportive enough and being a cause of something. There is only so much you can do by being supportive and sometimes you need to take care of yourself and get on with your life. I know how it is when you get to that point in taking care of somebody with mental illness, things start to look better finally, then it takes a turn for the worse again and you think, I just can't do this any more and go through it all over again. Sadly, even with all that, you can't do it yourself. They have to really do it for themselves. You can help them but you can't fix it for them. For me, that was always the hardest part, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't fix it. From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Mon Oct 19 00:53:27 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Mon Oct 19 00:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat said the following on 17/10/09 00:07: > "Mr K. Mean" wrote in > news:hb8l3s$oep$1@news.spamcop.net: > >> But I have time to sort that out. Haven't been working the last few >> weeks and the market seems pretty soft. Not sure I want to write >> software anymore anyways. Seems time for a career change. Anybody have >> a handle on how to make a living out of writing? I've got lots of >> travel writing around. Looking at volunteering at local environmental >> concerns around here, would love to see how to work something to do >> with sustainability into a new career somehow. > > What happened with your last job? Last I heard you took the bus home during > a big rain storm. Tiny company, on the edge, barely surviving, neither of us happy with each other, couldn't really afford to keep paying me anymore. Maybe they will make a go of it and keep themselves alive but mostly I'm really happy to be out. You should see my garden now, it is looking beautiful. Didn't take a bus through. I don't think I've ridden a bus in Melbourne at all. Certainly trains and maybe some trams. I probably took the train home during the rain storm (trains allow bikes). From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Mon Oct 19 01:07:04 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Mon Oct 19 01:10:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Farelf said the following on 16/10/09 15:10: > Mr K. Mean wrote: >> > Even he, selling stories since 1983 and with umpteen volumes now > published (well, 13), found it useful to keep his hand in with his 'day > job' for another 9 years. But, maybe some sort of inspiration - I'm sure > if he was a bit more "Gregarious" he could have made the leap > sooner. There are opportunities to work for a salary in non-fiction of > course (but more competition). I guess that's more what you're thinking > about. I'm not great at creativity and stories, so I wouldn't really try fiction at all. I'm more interested in facts and how things fit together but having a sense of humor about it too. I find the whole Jonathan Coulton story pretty inspirational, just throwing yourself into it but committing yourself to doing something every week. There is something of that discipline that I'm lacking, a sense of still having a schedule and getting at least something done, no matter how it turns out. I just finished The Wild Trees and thought that's exactly what I would love to do, some sort of narrative non-fiction, facts and interesting things, but with a flow through it, a sense of moving somewhere. Reading Thames now too, there is also a lot of that there too. I need to get my short article piece thought through and finished for this week. Just need to find some things I'm interested in writing about (besides my normal travel/music/etc). >> ... Looking at volunteering at local environmental concerns around >> here, would love to see how to work something to do with >> sustainability into a new career somehow. > > Well, if ever there was a time to get into that area, it would be now. > And volunteering is a good way to make contacts, and maybe come to > attention if you stay focussed (and keep watching the job vacancies). > Letter to the newspapers and magazines (New Scientist, etc.) is another > way to wave the flag. {shudder} you might consider working for one of > the political parties - Bob Brown could use a clue or two. Good luck. I've made some volunteer contacts. I would hope I have something set up this week on that front. I'm already involved in the bike group, just trying to expand beyond that now. But for political parties, I'm way too cynical about politics to get involved with that. Volunteer for Labour? Ick, no way. I would have to take a shower about 8 times a day. From user at domain.invalid Mon Oct 19 06:32:05 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Mon Oct 19 06:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Moving along through life In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > No way it was me! It was Farelf ! > > you know, not even a whisper of a hangover of any sort. Ah, crap. Maybe > my latest homebrew has fusels. That would explain a lot of things. Like > the 2 weeks of headaches I've had. Suckage. Anyway, this scotch... Well, > it's been good to me so far. Heh - the Swan River colony (Perth) was founded in 1829 but the first brewery (the Swan Brewery, natch) didn't come along until 1837. Beer didn't travel that well in those days (not even double-hopped, the usual British answer to hot climate and long haul) so I dunno what took them so long to brew their own. Well, they sort of starved the first few years, I guess that was a bit of distraction. But anyway, the first brewer (German IIRC) was sacked, and his assistant too. They kept producing fusel oil. Something to do with top brewing and bottom brewing - I don't understand. Anyway fusel happens, even to the pros. From user at domain.invalid Mon Oct 19 06:37:11 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Mon Oct 19 06:40:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mr K. Mean wrote: > > I've made some volunteer contacts. I would hope I have something set up > this week on that front. I'm already involved in the bike group, just > trying to expand beyond that now. But for political parties, I'm way too > cynical about politics to get involved with that. Volunteer for Labour? > Ick, no way. I would have to take a shower about 8 times a day. Heh heh you're thinking of the wrong country, I think. Talking about BOB Brown, the Australian Greens senator from Tasmania. No, don't go near Aus Labor. They can't even spell the word. From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 19 19:23:17 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Mon Oct 19 19:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CA9A0300942Fsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > Charles wrote in > news:Xns9CA856BA27118TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61: > > >>> Evidently she was mentally ill or unstable in some way. >> >> Unhappy. And she thought she was stuck. >> > > That's not enough to cause one to commit suicide in a mentally healthy > individual. Not true, really, I can easily see how one blow after another where you end up where you don't want to be and can't find any way out of it can send you into despair. Suicide is a drastic step but I can see how someone would get there. From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 19 19:36:57 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Mon Oct 19 19:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CA9A786F13FFsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > "Heidi" wrote in > news:hbisdd$tsj$1@news.spamcop.net: > >> Not true, really, I can easily see how one blow after another where >> you end up where you don't want to be and can't find any way out of it >> can send you into despair. Suicide is a drastic step but I can see >> how someone would get there. > > > I would call that a mentally unhealthy situation. It is, but there are some things you can't control, and if you feel like you're in an impossible situation with a shitty job, bad relationship, horrible commute, and no way to fix any of it and no way out, it becomes very unhealthy very fast. From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 19 19:51:02 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Mon Oct 19 19:55:10 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Payday...woot! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hb912m$s0p$2@news.spamcop.net... > Indigo wrote: >> >> All sounds good. Where are you working again? >> > > Sears Ah, so you get all the mall chick traffic cutting thru the store? From me at privacy.net Mon Oct 19 19:52:12 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Mon Oct 19 19:55:10 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: hey indi References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CA9A765075D6sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : Did you happen to see Nova about repairing Hubble for the last time? They : showed a lot of Goddard, how they make tools to fix things in space etc. : : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0303/01.html Verrrrry carefully From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 19 19:54:53 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Mon Oct 19 19:55:11 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Payday...woot! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CA63DFEC97BEsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > > Can your disability go on for ever? if not, push may well come to shove! > My contract states that I'm covered until age 65 if various doctors continue to evaluate me and declare me disabled (unable to work fulltime). I thought based on the results of my IME (in my favor) UNUM would give up on chasing their ridiculous "mental illness" claim, but lo and behold, I've gotten a letter from them saying I am having a psychiatric evaluation on 10/31/09!! They will NEVER give up until I'm working again..... From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 19 19:58:30 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Mon Oct 19 20:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA6DE380ACA6TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > No way it was me! It was Sylvesterthekat ! > >> had you been in touch with her recently? how awful. any suicide note? > > She sent me a package a week ago. We've email 6 or 7 times in the past > month including 5 days ago. She was very positive about some things and a > bit negative about life's usual negative things (the commute, moving, > etc). And your wife was ok with that kind of communication with your ex? Most women I've known (and most guys I can think of, including me), would go ballistic for staying in such close contact with your ex. Not to kick you while you're down, but keeping up that kind of contact is pretty unusual unless there's a kid involved..... From me at privacy.net Mon Oct 19 19:57:52 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Mon Oct 19 20:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Payday...woot! References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hbiu8c$ufm$1@news.spamcop.net... : : "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message : news:Xns9CA63DFEC97BEsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : > : > Can your disability go on for ever? if not, push may well come to shove! : > : : My contract states that I'm covered until age 65 if various doctors continue : to evaluate me and declare me disabled (unable to work fulltime). I thought : based on the results of my IME (in my favor) UNUM would give up on chasing : their ridiculous "mental illness" claim, but lo and behold, I've gotten a : letter from them saying I am having a psychiatric evaluation on 10/31/09!! : They will NEVER give up until I'm working again..... They will NEVER give up until they can stop paying you. They don't give a sh|t if you can work or not. : From borgholio at storymind.com Mon Oct 19 20:01:12 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Mon Oct 19 20:05:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Payday...woot! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Indigo wrote: > > "Borgholio" wrote in message > news:hb912m$s0p$2@news.spamcop.net... >> Indigo wrote: >>> >>> All sounds good. Where are you working again? >>> >> >> Sears > > Ah, so you get all the mall chick traffic cutting thru the store? Nope it's a full-size store...not in a mall. With that said, I'm amazed at how many cute asses there are in tight black slacks on the female employees... From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 19 20:11:56 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Mon Oct 19 20:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hbiuf5$ug7$1@news.spamcop.net... > And your wife was ok with that kind of communication with your ex? Most > women I've known (and most guys I can think of, including me), would go > ballistic for staying in such close contact with your ex. Not to kick you > while you're down, but keeping up that kind of contact is pretty unusual > unless there's a kid involved..... My bad, whatever relationship you maintained with your ex and why is none of my business, nor anyone else's. Please excuse me for that post. From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 19 20:24:50 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Mon Oct 19 20:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: hey indi In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CA9A765075D6sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > Did you happen to see Nova about repairing Hubble for the last time? They > showed a lot of Goddard, how they make tools to fix things in space etc. > > http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/0303/01.html I may have recorded it on a DVD -- I saved 3-4 specials on Nova, TLC, etc. on SM4 before it launched. BTW, my ex-company has been the sole supplier for all astronaut tools since at least SM1 ;-) It's also just about the only contract they have left with GSFC....talked to a friend of mine that still works for my old company, the workforce is down from a peak 990 or so to 450 souls since they got bought out (I was still working there at the time, but went on LTD the same year). It's criminal what happened to a once great company (Swales Aerospace)......our days were numbered when the founder retired.....the new management team changed the company's core mission and screwed the pooch big time. After the shuttle stops flying new big sections to the Space Station and the need for new crew tools disappears, that'll be the end of what's left of their connection with NASA. Makes me sad to think about it. From user at domain.invalid Mon Oct 19 21:11:42 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Mon Oct 19 21:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Moving along through life In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Farelf wrote in > news:hbg8ot$v7j$1@news.spamcop.net: > > >> Reminds me, neighbour volunteered/swapped 3 bottles of home-made wine >> (orange, rhubarb and red grape) for a tonne and a half of sheoak. > > for what? sheoak? what's that? That's a tree (Casuarina). Or it was. It is firewood now. Or it will be when it dries. http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1393134 http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightcliff/3885856312/ > >> But later (fasting at the moment, imminent appointment with the >> surgeon). >> > > what you having done? nosy folks want to know lol Trust me, you don't want to know. Even I don't want to know (I slept through the whole thing) . From user at domain.invalid Mon Oct 19 21:49:34 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Mon Oct 19 21:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Farelf wrote in > news:hbhfgh$dh4$1@news.spamcop.net: > > >> No, don't go >> near Aus Labor. They can't even spell the word. >> > > Why DO they spell it 'wrong'? Australia generally uses British spelling, so it is "Labour". But the ALP (Australian Labor Party) spell it the "American" way. So, it's a sort of running joke - "What would those buggers know about labours of the working man? They can't even spell the word." I don't know why they spell it that way. Maybe it was a "New World-Old World" thing, sweeping aside conservatism as part of the "class struggle". I haven't the heart to research it. I would rather guess . But spellings change, particularly under the relentless pressure of US "cultural" exports (long resisted - US publications used never to be bulk imported here, if there was a British edition - but that is 'ancient' history now). And it was never so perfectly straight-forward. F'rinstance the most toffee-nosed newspaper in our most hoity-toity city (The Age and Melbourne, respectively) has "always" (for most or maybe all of its 155 years) specified a form of US spelling in its style manual - and that applies even to the advertisements they carry. IIRC that was simply down to the preference of the paper's founder. From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Mon Oct 19 22:24:58 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Mon Oct 19 22:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Farelf said the following on 19/10/09 21:37: > Mr K. Mean wrote: >> >> I've made some volunteer contacts. I would hope I have something set >> up this week on that front. I'm already involved in the bike group, >> just trying to expand beyond that now. But for political parties, I'm >> way too cynical about politics to get involved with that. Volunteer >> for Labour? Ick, no way. I would have to take a shower about 8 times a >> day. > > Heh heh you're thinking of the wrong country, I think. Talking about BOB > Brown, the Australian Greens senator from Tasmania. No, don't go near > Aus Labor. They can't even spell the word. I'm in Victoria. (Is it Labor or Labour here? I moved here from the UK.) I suppose I would probably respect the various Greens politicians, sort of, but I would rather concentrate on behaviour change for normal people not of politicians. It all seems so disgusting and slimy. I'd rather get my neighbors riding bikes. From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 19 22:29:39 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Mon Oct 19 22:30:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA9D13AA35EDTheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > > Oh, we have a very open relationship. I screw whoever I want to. Are you > busy Thursday - I've got some free time? Would you please pass the brain bleach? From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 19 22:31:08 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Mon Oct 19 22:35:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Moving along through life References: Message-ID: "Farelf" wrote in message news:hbj2o8$ep$1@news.spamcop.net... > > Trust me, you don't want to know. Even I don't want to know (I slept > through the whole thing) . Then we must of course assume it was boils or hemorrhoids.... :D From user at domain.invalid Mon Oct 19 23:18:56 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Mon Oct 19 23:20:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mr K. Mean wrote: > > I'm in Victoria. (Is it Labor or Labour here? I moved here from the UK.) > I suppose I would probably respect the various Greens politicians, sort > of, but I would rather concentrate on behaviour change for normal people > not of politicians. It all seems so disgusting and slimy. I'd rather get > my neighbors riding bikes. It's the Australian *Labor* Party, but the spelling is generally labour in any other context except (as mentioned in another reply) if you're reading "The Age". Getting your neighbours to ride bikes is a far better thing than almost anything you could do with a politician of any persuasion, IMO. Depending on whether or not you can coax them into riding enough km/miles to wipe out the fixed carbon/energy debt involved in manufacturing the bikes together with the variable debt for (some of) feeding the riders, factoring in also the savings on fuelling alternative transport which has a fixed manufacturing debt regardless. Ah, it's not easy, but yeah, worthwhile (I think so too - health/lifestyle improvements too and potential healthcare savings, even with those versus increased hazard). It's more about mindset and what (we trust) follows from that, isn't it? Well, (back to the contention of 'better than'), better than anything that's *legal* that you could do with 'em (politicians) anyways - certain non-legal options come readily to mind. But no, that's anarchy . If you wanted to make meaningful contributions at the policy level you would have to work within the 'system' which is where research and technical writing for the support team of a political party/politician might come into the picture - except they are probably more interested in their dogmas and power bases than they are in 'saving the planet'. Or perhaps I'm being too harsh on them ... nah, I'm not. From me at privacy.net Mon Oct 19 23:29:36 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Mon Oct 19 23:30:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] When Hell Freezes Over--giggle & grin References: <4add234b@newsgate.x-privat.org> Message-ID: HELL EXPLAINED BY CHEMISTRY STUDENT The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term. The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well : Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct........leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.' THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+ From user at domain.invalid Tue Oct 20 00:00:09 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Tue Oct 20 00:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Moving along through life In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Heidi wrote: > "Farelf" wrote in message > news:hbj2o8$ep$1@news.spamcop.net... >> Trust me, you don't want to know. Even I don't want to know (I slept >> through the whole thing) . > > Then we must of course assume it was boils or hemorrhoids.... :D > > LOLZ! But no, it is no big deal, just personal - and I don't mind what people might imagine (which would inevitably be more interesting than the fact) so it really wasn't very nice/responsible of me to have mentioned it at all. Please forgive. It's just, minor procedure or not, general anesthetic and surgery is always some sort of risk. Thus any pronouncement immediately prior might prove the 'dernier cri' - and not in the fashion sense. There must be trepidation. At least a little. With some impulse to reach out. But lo, I awoke again, and I am glad of it. From borgholio at storymind.com Tue Oct 20 02:31:53 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Tue Oct 20 02:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: When Hell Freezes Over--giggle & grin In-Reply-To: References: <4add234b@newsgate.x-privat.org> Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > HELL EXPLAINED BY CHEMISTRY STUDENT > > I've heard the story with the ending being completely reversed. Thermodynamics of Hell The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry midterm exam. The answer from one student was so "profound" that he professor shared it with his colleagues via the Internet, which is of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well... Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Most of the students wrote proofs using Boyle's Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant. One student wrote the following: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, lets look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions, and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionally as souls are added. This gives two possibilities: 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose. 2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over. So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Teresa Banyan during my freshman year, "that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze. The student received the only "A" given From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 20 13:59:56 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Tue Oct 20 14:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: let me tell you about some strange things In-Reply-To: <3544d5pneenetd8pdmmdpspktfevcaq3o9@4ax.com> References: <1leqc59rqvmopi3uqijg5ukmqnbhngkmj0@4ax.com> <3ta1d51ausscjug98mpnspa717hk87qfj0@4ax.com> <3544d5pneenetd8pdmmdpspktfevcaq3o9@4ax.com> Message-ID: "Evan Platt" wrote in message news:3544d5pneenetd8pdmmdpspktfevcaq3o9@4ax.com... If you aren't old enough to remember > those, they came after records. If you aren't old enough to remember > records, records are what people used to snort coke off of." Nah. Records (preferably a double album sleeve) are what you used to remove the stems and seeds from your baggie of weed (or so I've been told ;-) From borgholio at storymind.com Tue Oct 20 14:06:29 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Tue Oct 20 14:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > > I happen to think that whatever way a book was written, it should be left > that way. So a US-penned book should be left as is, with all its 'wrong' > spellings etc lol. We're the new British Empire. Get used to it already. :-P From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 20 14:13:16 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Tue Oct 20 14:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: big brother is watching you In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CA63DA376D54sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... Is there a > big offender? > the USPS? :-) From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 20 14:30:17 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Tue Oct 20 14:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "J. Weaver Jr." wrote in message news:hbch8h$bd3$1@news.spamcop.net... > Charles wrote: >> I mean, I still have shared bank and online accounts with this woman. >> Shit. Fuck. Damn. > > If you still have shared financial interests, get in there _now_, before > they magically disappear. -JW Good god......I cannot believe that you never severed financial ties! Even if at the time you thought you might get back together with her, once you met your current SO you should have taken care of this. JW is right, you gotta get on this pronto, but now it's going to be insanely difficult to sort out. How do you know her family won't stake a claim to the entire amount of money in those accounts? Since your ex isn't around to tell them how much of it is yours and how much is hers, and she probably didn't have a will, it's going to be a nightmare even if you kept good records -- they could take you to court arguing that your records aren't correct if the amount of cash is worth the fight. When me and my ex separated, we went to the bank weeks before she moved out to cancel our joint accounts and divide the proceeds (she needed money for an apt. deposit, for instance). Lucky me got stuck paying off the combined $15k in credit card debt after her name was removed from the accounts, which was part of the separation agreement that counted as cash compensation to her (1/2 of the CC debt). From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 20 14:55:04 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Tue Oct 20 14:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA76335D25AATheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > No way it was me! It was "J. Weaver Jr." ! > >> If you still have shared financial interests, get in there _now_, before >> they magically disappear. > > It's 10E. Not assetts. > > But, hey... Indi... You know... She had Lyme. Supposedly healed and > yet. Her depression and breakdowns started about 6 months after she was > healed. Bearing in mind that this was also the period where I left - life > is never simple and one dimensional. What's "10E"? Her having lyme certainly explains some things, especially the suicide -- most of us "lymies" have been to that dark place at least once, including me. That she started having depression/breakdown problems _after_ she was better is extremely unusual, to say the least, unless those symptoms were caused by something unrelated to the lyme infection. I do take issue with whomever told her she was "healed", however. Lyme is like some other viruses (genital herpes, for instance) in that you are never "cured", unless it was caught right after infection and killed off in it's vulnerable first month or two of infection. Once it establishes a foothold in your organs and tissues, you're sunk, you've got it for life. THAT'S why I got on your case so hard when you thought you might have been infected last year. To whit, no commercial health insurance company will issue a policy to a person who *ever* tested positive for lyme because of this "never cured" issue. I have written letters from two insurance companies stating that exactly -- it's probably an illegal practice, but that's where things stand right now. Even after my health returns to the point that I can handle working fulltime, I'm going to have to be very careful to avoid overstressing my body and systems, which could lower my immune system and allow the lyme bugs to spring out of hiding and cause a relapse. I'm probably going to have to take some of the current meds/supplements I'm on for the rest of my life to keep the little effer's heads down, since it will be impossible to avoid all the stresses life put upon us. I wonder if your ex had a lyme relapse and just couldn't face the thought of going thru the wars again? From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 20 15:04:56 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Tue Oct 20 15:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA779914ECF9TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > No way it was me! It was "Mike Easter" ! > >> which seems surprising > > Well, she has shared and not shared with me other the years. I guess the > sharing has typically come after the healing process has begun. "after the healing process has begun"? Does that mean what I suggested in my previous post, that she may have suffered a lyme relapse, is true? She sounds exactly like the ex-coworker I keep in touch with via email and the occasional phone call -- when she's doing ok she's in contact with me regularly, but when she's really down (via worsened symptoms or depression) I won't hear from her for weeks, if not months. I haven't gotten an email from her for a while, I should give her a call to make sure she's doing ok.....the last time I heard from her she was about to start an extensive IV antibiotic treatment with our shared lyme doc, and she wanted to know if I'd drive her to his clinic on the days she couldn't driver herself or get a ride (I said of course I would). She was also getting kicked out of her apt. for some reason, she didn't say why.....ok, now I'm officially worried about her. From me at privacy.net Tue Oct 20 15:15:27 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Tue Oct 20 15:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CAA70DCCC2EFsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : Farelf wrote in news:hbj4v8$174$1@news.spamcop.net: : : : > But spellings change, particularly under the relentless pressure of US : > "cultural" exports (long resisted - US publications used never to be : > bulk imported here, if there was a British edition - but that is : > 'ancient' history now). And it was never so perfectly straight-forward. : > F'rinstance the most toffee-nosed newspaper in our most hoity-toity : > city (The Age and Melbourne, respectively) has "always" (for most or : > maybe all of its 155 years) specified a form of US spelling in its style : > manual - and that applies even to the advertisements they carry. IIRC : > that was simply down to the preference of the paper's founder. : > : : Here, they have a tendency to adapt some books for the American market. I : couldn't read the US version of Harry Potter, it was hideous. So I had to : buy the Brit versions. : : I happen to think that whatever way a book was written, it should be left : that way. So a US-penned book should be left as is, with all its 'wrong' : spellings etc lol. Exceptions made of course for translations into other : languages! That works for adults but anything intended for a children's market should be location specific. If the parent or teacher wants to inject the different spelling/grammar then it's their choice. FWIW I've some Brit friends who are hard enough to understand when they are sober ... From me at privacy.net Tue Oct 20 15:29:42 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Tue Oct 20 15:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CAA6FD2AC2FFsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : "Heidi" wrote in news:hbit71$u3j$1@news.spamcop.net: : : : > It is, but there are some things you can't control, and if you feel like : > you're in an impossible situation with a shitty job, bad relationship, : > horrible commute, and no way to fix any of it and no way out, it becomes : > very unhealthy very fast. : : : There's *always* a way to change things. The mentally ill will look at it : as an impossible situation and do nothing but seek the 'easy' way out. In my experience the *always* is not a reality. Something as simple as the insurance company deciding you're no longer covered. We lost remote family member who was admitted on a voluntary admit. (her family intervened) Insurance notified the facility 'no coverage' patient was out the door in a half hour and dead in 8 (as a function of being off the meds). Her immediate family did not know she was discharged until AFTER the police came to the house to notify them of her death. In some areas try to get an admit (voluntary or otherwise) when there is no insurance is also a problem. From user at domain.invalid Tue Oct 20 16:17:50 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Tue Oct 20 16:20:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Moving along through life In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Farelf wrote in > news:hbjck3$3vh$1@news.spamcop.net: > > > And, most importantly, are you feeling better for having the procedure, > whatever mysterious and hideous procedure it might have been? Just something that has to be done, a relief to have it over with. The sun is shining . Well, it was until it set. From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 20 16:18:58 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Tue Oct 20 16:20:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA789012A689TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... I'm considering grief counseling because > regardless of the reason I do feel guilt - some sense of responsibility. > Mind you, I already know what the therapist will say and I'm not falling > for it. I can imagine what the therapist will say, at any rate. The > same things you read online. "It's not your fault." "Don't blame > yourself." She was the one with a problem. She's the one who needed help > and bla and bla and bla di bla. You can be convinced of this or you > can't. Without going into too much detail, I'll try to share my experience with "therapists". Recall that I was forced to get regular psychiatric or psychological therapy by my LTD company or have my benefits canceled when they unilaterally switched my diagnosis from lyme disease to "mental illness". At first I just picked a psychiatrist out of the PPO list that was local to me -- I was in her office for a total of 10 minutes on our first "session" -- she barely asked me any questions, just kicked me out the door with a scrip for Paxil. I was appalled, to say the least, and never went back. Then I talked to my lyme doc about my lousy psychiatrist session and asked for an alternative form of therapy, since my body had been responding tremendously well to "alternative" health treatments, whereas traditional Western medical treatments were ineffective in relieving my muscle/joint pains. He suggested I try to find a "somatic" therapist. Somatic therapy basically involves revisiting traumatic events in your life (like the root canal from hell that kicked me off the cliff onto the disability list) and changing the outcome, which relieves your sense of guilt, anger, whatever feelings you had tied to that event. I found a wonderful therapist, he was a traditional psychiatrist for 25 years before getting fed up with insurance companies and pill pushing etc. and turned to learning and practicing alternative forms of therapy. Even though I fought (and continue to fight) the notion that my physical problems were/are caused by mental illness, I *was* having some severe anxiety and mild depression issues over my health problems and the constant threat of my LTD benefits being pulled. And I finally had to admit to myself that I *did* have a lot of "stuff" stashed deep inside me, because that was the only way I knew how to deal with traumatic events - bury them instead of dealing with them. Long story short: Even though I was forced to get therapy against my will by UNUM, the somatic therapy has accomplished nothing short of a miracle, especially issues dealing with guilt associated with the deaths of several close friends and cousins during my childhood, and especially my mother's death 12 years ago, amongst other things. The relief of having those burdens lifted off of my shoulders after carrying them for so many years was spectacular. I started out seeing my guy once a week, now we're down to once a month, just to keep UNUM happy. Many months ago we ran out of things to talk about, so now he does bodywork on me, using a technique different from my other various physical therapists, which is very successful in temporarily relieving muscle spasms (my main remaining problem that's stopping me from returning to work). I've paid him $100 out of pocket for each session because he refuses to write up bills for insurance (he told me about that before we met), but that shows how effective the treatment method was for me, i.e. he turned out to be worth every penny I've had to spend (which is now close to 5 digits if not there already). I STRONGLY urge you to get some help, and suggest avoiding psychiatrists, else this traumatic event may turn into a long term problem that affects you and your family in ways you won't even realize are happening. From borgholio at storymind.com Tue Oct 20 17:16:07 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Tue Oct 20 17:20:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Added benefits to a new job Message-ID: My overall income doubled which means I just qualified for a new car loan to replace the one I got from the dealership. This new loan is 6% (my old one was 8.9%) and I save over $32 per month on payments. I would not have qualified before the new job due to "excessive debt to income ratio". So this new job essentially netted me another 8 bucks a week. :-P From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 20 18:09:16 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Tue Oct 20 18:10:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CAA6FD2AC2FFsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... >> > There's *always* a way to change things. The mentally ill will look at it > as an impossible situation and do nothing but seek the 'easy' way out. Not always, sometimes life just sucks, there is no way to change anything, and you have to either learn to accept it or suffer constant frustration and anger. Ask me how I know.... ;> From me at privacy.net Wed Oct 21 13:12:08 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Wed Oct 21 13:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Old joke -- The New Math References: Message-ID: There were three Indian squaws. One slept on a deer skin. One slept on an elk skin and the third slept on a Hippopotamus skin. All three became pregnant and the first two each had a baby boy. The one who had slept on the Hippopotamus skin had twin boys. This goes to prove that the squaw of the Hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides. From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 15:33:28 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 21 15:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:hbd159$i03$1@news.spamcop.net... > > Therapists or counselors are like anything else - alleged automechanics, > alleged software coders, alleged website builders - they come in all > varieties of competency and value. And you won't know what you've got > until you get there, because someone else's opinion about that may > likely not be worth very much. Also, you have to be absolutely truthful about what's bothering you. This gal I dated years ago had a severe anxiety attack problem and had seen multiple therapists in an effort to find out what was causing her problems. One time I asked her if she had opened up completely with them, and she answered "hell no!" ?!?!! Gee, I wonder why you never got better, I replied.....and she never told me what had traumatized her either....must have been something pretty horrible if she couldn't even tell the guy she was considering marrying at the time the truth. For the record, I was _not_ going to marry her unless she went back to a therapist and dealt with her issues.....my ex-wife cured me of thinking emotional problems could/would get better with time.....they don't, they get worse..... From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 15:39:44 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 21 15:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Heidi" wrote in message news:hblcek$rn4$1@news.spamcop.net... > > "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message > news:Xns9CAA6FD2AC2FFsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... >>> >> There's *always* a way to change things. The mentally ill will look at it >> as an impossible situation and do nothing but seek the 'easy' way out. > > Not always, sometimes life just sucks, there is no way to change anything, > and you have to either learn to accept it or suffer constant frustration > and anger. Ask me how I know.... ;> I strongly agree with S-kat -- there IS always some way to change your situation. The problem is a lot a people (more common in women than in men) just don't have the strength/guts to do what they have to do to escape whatever trap they're in. From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 15:44:21 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 21 15:45:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA7C69EEFE01TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > A coworker's wife is a therapist. But that opens me up to having > the possibility of my coworker knowing intimate details of my life. I > know > life isn't supposed to work that way, but it often does. Ah, shit. Ah > shit shit. Seeing that particular therapist would be a bad idea IMO......even though she is bound by law not to discuss anything said in sessions with her patients I can almost guarantee you she talks to her husband about her patients. Since he likely doesn't know any of them, it's mostly harmless, but in your case...... An idea just popped into my head -- my last two employers offered free counseling of many different kinds as part of their benefit package -- check with your HR office or look at your health insurance policy to see if your company offers the same. From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 15:49:36 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 21 15:50:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Mr K. Mean" wrote in message news:hbgpls$5bh$1@news.spamcop.net... > So many different aspects of it too, giving up, self hatred, a cry for > help, a means to control others, revenge, and so many other things, at > different times, sometimes all at once. Severely depressed but otherwise mentally stable people who get so down that they contemplate suicide typically think about the harm and pain it would cause to those close to them and immediately cease considering ending their life. The guilt they feel of being so selfish is too much to take. From user at domain.invalid Wed Oct 21 15:51:57 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Wed Oct 21 15:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Old joke -- The New Math In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > There were three Indian squaws. One slept on a deer skin. > Now you've done it! Don't you remember the last time? Just for that: "Holmes, why are you trying to insert that citrus fruit into my bottom?" "It's a lemon entry my Dear Watson." From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 15:52:15 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 21 15:55:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Mr K. Mean" wrote in message news:hbgr4p$5su$1@news.spamcop.net... > Sadly, even with all that, you can't do it yourself. They have to really > do it for themselves. You can help them but you can't fix it for them. For > me, that was always the hardest part, no matter how hard I tried, I > couldn't fix it. What's even sadder is when you very clearly show them the steps they have to take, how to get from here to there, and they just can't take that last (and most important) step...... From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Oct 21 15:57:49 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Oct 21 16:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Indigo wrote: > "Heidi" >> "Sylvesterthekat" >>> There's *always* a way to change things. The mentally ill will look >>> at it as an impossible situation and do nothing but seek the 'easy' >>> way out. >> >> Not always, sometimes life just sucks, there is no way to change >> anything, and you have to either learn to accept it or suffer constant >> frustration and anger. Ask me how I know.... ;> > > I strongly agree with S-kat -- there IS always some way to change your > situation. The problem is a lot a people (more common in women than in > men) just don't have the strength/guts to do what they have to do to > escape whatever trap they're in. I don't agree with the general feeling that suicide is just the worst thing ever and that the suicide chooser must've been seriously emotionally ill to do such a thing. The people who are feeling the pain of the discussed's suicide are the living, not the dead lady. She isn't in any pain or frustration or depression or illness or dejection any more. Those who are interested in mental health seem to be universally against suicide as an answer to anything. Such as the hemlock society are in favor of suicide as an answer to some things. Many suicide alleged 'victims' see suicide as the answer to some more things than the hemlockers. In the US, suicide is twice as common as homicide, and we have plenty of that homicide. Suicide is a common (11th in frequency) cause of death, more so in some groups than others. In this case we don't have the details, but there are a helluva lot more 'attempted' suicides than completed suicides, and most attempted suicides are actually a call for help rather than really really really /attempting/ to commit suicide. So, some /successful/ 'suicides' are errant /attempts/ -- some other suicides come about because the judgment about what one is doing gets clouded by some kind of drug or another and so the suicide actually comes about in some kind of drug induced 'stupor' -- that is, that the judgment was more clouded (and more depressed) by the drug/s at the time just before the suicide -- whether it was supposed to just be an attempt instead of the real thing. Lots and lots of cases of whether some death was accidental or intentional, when drugs are involved. Suicide notes bring another dynamic into the issue. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 15:58:00 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 21 16:00:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA9D157F5686TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > No way it was me! It was "Indigo" ! > >> Please excuse me for that post. > > Well, OK. Hey. Cool of you to think about it and post back. I > appreciate > it. It took all of about 20-30 seconds for me to realize how insensitive that first post was....check the time stamps... From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 16:09:25 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 21 16:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CA9D13AA35EDTheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > No way it was me! It was "Indigo" ! > >> And your wife was ok with that kind of communication with your ex? >> Most women I've known (and most guys I can think of, including me), >> would go ballistic for staying in such close contact with your ex. Not >> to kick you while you're down, but keeping up that kind of contact is >> pretty unusual unless there's a kid involved..... > > I hear you and totally understand - I can't imagine I'd be all that happy, > either. LOL....so it was ok for you to do it but if the situation were reversed you wouldn't like it? Your wife must be a saint! > But we were good friends and spent a lot of time together. I kept things > very clear at home and didn't hide anything. That certainly helps keep jealousy tamped down. Over the last 15 years I've had the misfortune of getting involved with a series of women who were extremely jealous of my past relationships.....every item or photo I had from the previous relationship had to go.....I have a big gap in my photo albums! Sheesh, one gal even insisted I get rid of all of my wedding photos! I balked at that, but did pitch a bunch of them, and now I wish I had just hidden them in a box in the basement....in fact, I wish I had done that with all of the photos! On the other hand, the last gal I dated didn't care at all, in fact she _wanted_ to see photos of me from the past, regardless of who is in the photo with me, no jealousy at all on her part. Hell, she liked one of the photos from my wedding day so much that she had me print it out, framed it, and put it at her work station! The ex wasn't in the photo though.....and damn I looked good in that tux..... From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 16:24:08 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 21 16:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CAABC107DB30TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > No way it was me! It was "Indigo" ! > >> "after the healing process has begun"? Does that mean what I suggested >> in my previous post, that she may have suffered a lyme relapse, is >> true? > > I mean she'd tell me that she had been off of work or that she had been > really sad but that things were going better. No going better this time, > that's for sure. Recall how I mentioned in that post that I was now worried about my lymie pen pal? Guess what was waiting in my inbox when I got on the computer this morning? An email from her, and her level of depression is the worst I've ever seen.......she even mentioned "giving up"...."too tired to fight anymore".....bad, bad phrases......I immediately wrote her back, but she hasn't answered. I think I need to be a little less self involved and be a better friend to her, like be a real life person for one, not a mystery man whose face she's never seen. I have a pretty wide support system of friends and family, and she has little to none, I think that's why I need to step in and fill the void. But I've been avoiding visiting her because she's so sick. I've seen photos of parts of her body that show the damage lyme has done to her, and the ick factor is pretty high.....and I've never been good at dealing with very sick people.....just walking down the hall of a hospital ward and catching glimpses of the patients in their rooms make me so uncomfortable I get the urge to run away....guess it's time to get over it.......at least to the point where I can help out this poor lonely girl. From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 16:30:09 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 21 16:35:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CAABBEB0FAD9TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > I'm feeling a little better now - only cried (shit, again) a few times > today. I'm sure I'll cry a whole fricking lot this weekend. Holy cow. > And how. Don't fret about the amount of crying you do over the next week or so, it's a very healthy way to help the grieving process along. For way too many years I thought it was "un-manly" to cry, and bottling up that grief instead of letting it out ended up hurting me even worse over the years. From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 16:34:53 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 21 16:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Payday...woot! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CAA6FF9DFC29sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > "Indigo" wrote in > news:hbiu8c$ufm$1@news.spamcop.net: > > >> They will NEVER give up until I'm >> working again..... >> >> > > Of course not, they want to find a way out of paying up! Just like any other kind of insurance, it's there as long as you don't use it, then you're SOL when you file a claim -- bye bye insurance. From me at privacy.net Wed Oct 21 16:47:40 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Wed Oct 21 16:55:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hbnoak$nju$1@news.spamcop.net... : : "Charles" wrote in message : news:Xns9CA7C69EEFE01TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : > A coworker's wife is a therapist. But that opens me up to having : > the possibility of my coworker knowing intimate details of my life. I : > know : > life isn't supposed to work that way, but it often does. Ah, shit. Ah : > shit shit. : : Seeing that particular therapist would be a bad idea IMO......even though : she is bound by law not to discuss anything said in sessions with her : patients I can almost guarantee you she talks to her husband about her : patients. Since he likely doesn't know any of them, it's mostly harmless, : but in your case...... : : An idea just popped into my head -- my last two employers offered free : counseling of many different kinds as part of their benefit package -- check : with your HR office or look at your health insurance policy to see if your : company offers the same. I don't often caution against counseling but proceed very carefully wrg employer provided counseling. I mention this as a complete report on several of my reports to was provided by HR. The only way HR could have accessed that data was from the insurance company as there were copies of the relevant bills for service. From me at privacy.net Wed Oct 21 16:52:33 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Wed Oct 21 16:55:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Old joke -- The New Math References: Message-ID: "Farelf" wrote in message news:hbnool$nlv$1@news.spamcop.net... : Frog Prince wrote: : > There were three Indian squaws. One slept on a deer skin. : > : : Now you've done it! Don't you remember the last time? Just for that: : : "Holmes, why are you trying to insert that citrus fruit into my bottom?" : "It's a lemon entry my Dear Watson." Not another Stream of Unconsciousness? From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Oct 21 17:09:36 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Oct 21 17:10:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > proceed very carefully wrg > employer provided counseling. Yes. > I mention this as a complete report on several of my reports to was > provided by HR. > > The only way HR could have accessed that data was from the insurance > company as there were copies of the relevant bills for service. The bills likely contain the diagnosis codes, which diagnosis codes are 'enhanced' by the necessity for the diagnosis code to justify the provider being paid -- so the codes actually sound worse than what was going on during the conversation between patient and provider, which would be privileged. That is, maybe the privileged info wasn't so bad, but the code was :-/ Many employers would rather have employees who don't need any mental help or have *any* of those codes. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Wed Oct 21 17:45:30 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Wed Oct 21 17:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:hbnta8$pi8$1@news.spamcop.net... : Frog Prince wrote: : : > proceed very carefully wrg : > employer provided counseling. : : Yes. : : > I mention this as a complete report on several of my reports to was : > provided by HR. : > : > The only way HR could have accessed that data was from the insurance : > company as there were copies of the relevant bills for service. : : The bills likely contain the diagnosis codes, which diagnosis codes are : 'enhanced' by the necessity for the diagnosis code to justify the : provider being paid -- so the codes actually sound worse than what was : going on during the conversation between patient and provider, which : would be privileged. : : That is, maybe the privileged info wasn't so bad, but the code was :-/ No this was much much more and include clinic notes and consult reports. I pissed off a lot of people by making an official written report to corporate. : Many employers would rather have employees who don't need any mental : help or have *any* of those codes. The people in question were RIFed. From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Oct 21 18:17:16 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Oct 21 18:20:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> Frog Prince >>> I mention this as a complete report on several of my reports to was >>> provided by HR. >> That is, maybe the privileged info wasn't so bad, but the code was :-/ > > No this was much much more and include clinic notes and consult > reports. I pissed off a lot of people by making an official written > report to corporate. They're lucky you didn't sue them -- except that it is difficult to put a monetary value on the tort. Maybe that is one for suing and settling. IANAL -and- IDPOOTV Idontplayoneontv Maybe I should change that to IANAL -but- SIWTOTV sometimesiwatchthemontv -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From user at domain.invalid Wed Oct 21 18:20:54 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Wed Oct 21 18:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Old joke -- The New Math In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > > Not another Stream of Unconsciousness? > I should think Dr. Watson would be very glad he was conscious. Of course it could be strung out into a fully blown shaggy dog/Feghoot with the essential pun at the end. From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Oct 21 18:41:18 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Oct 21 18:45:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Old joke -- The New Math References: Message-ID: Farelf wrote: > Of course > it could be strung out into a fully blown shaggy dog/Feghoot with the > essential pun at the end. Ha! I was unfamiliar with the term Feghoot and the eponymous (I had to look that up, I was going to throw in some extra syllables) Ferdinand Feghoot (title, not author). My enjoyment of shaggydogs is always in the elaborate telling of them. Jumping directly to the punchline misses out on a world of beautiful elaboration intended to completely engross the audience - to heighten the 'grossing' of the same audience with the outlandish pun. It groans so much better if the audience has been captured. wiki "Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot" ... written by Reginald Bretnor under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Grendel Briarton. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Wed Oct 21 18:44:11 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Wed Oct 21 18:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:hbo194$r3i$1@news.spamcop.net... : Frog Prince wrote: : > "Mike Easter" : >> Frog Prince : : >>> I mention this as a complete report on several of my reports to was : >>> provided by HR. : : >> That is, maybe the privileged info wasn't so bad, but the code was ::-/ : > : > No this was much much more and include clinic notes and consult : > reports. I pissed off a lot of people by making an official written : > report to corporate. : : They're lucky you didn't sue them -- except that it is difficult to put : a monetary value on the tort. Maybe that is one for suing and settling. : : IANAL -and- IDPOOTV Idontplayoneontv : : Maybe I should change that to IANAL -but- SIWTOTV : sometimesiwatchthemontv Some how the imparted individuals found copies of the report in their exit packet. (and no I did not do the deed but do have a vague idea who did). Recall those under you can do you far more damage than those above you if only by doing exactly what you tell them. From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Oct 21 19:25:25 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Oct 21 19:30:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> In the US, suicide is twice as >> common as homicide, and we have plenty of that homicide. > Oh my. Throwing out stats without the requisite sources... That's so > unlike you, Mike! Anyway, 13 is not the double of 7. I recently decided to limit my link pasting. I figgered it would do some people some good to search for what I paste - or if they are trying but having trouble finding a ref, they can 'come back' and ask me. > I know. Close enough. But whatever. > > It is an interesting statistic, I admit. I'll think about it over the > weekend. Well, I don't know if I were/was trying to get anyone to 'think about it' :-) -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 21:26:45 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Wed Oct 21 21:30:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hbno1v$net$1@news.spamcop.net... > > I strongly agree with S-kat -- there IS always some way to change your > situation. The problem is a lot a people (more common in women than in > men) just don't have the strength/guts to do what they have to do to > escape whatever trap they're in. Speaking from personal experience, it has nothign to do with guts and has everything to do with the hand life deals you. There ARE times when there is literally nothing you can do to change anything, no choice but suck it up and deal. If you don't like your job, and there aren't any others out there, then yes, your way out is to quit. And then go bankrupt, which will make your life even worse than it already is. Sometimes there just are no other options, not everything is within your control. The trick is to get through it. From MikeE at ster.invalid Wed Oct 21 21:42:09 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Wed Oct 21 21:45:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> Well, I don't know if I were/was trying to get anyone to 'think about >> it' I meant I wasn't trying to get anyone to think about suicide - personally - which is why I put a smiley. Maybe I should've made it a wry one. > Alas, I'm perhaps a bit closer to the subject than most just now. And, > if anything, I am one of those "think about it" types. After acting, of > course. Because otherwise what's the use? I don't know what that collection of your last 3 sentences means in this context. But here's something to follow. We have so little to work with here. Charles wrote: > and making do with what you have. So, yeah, as a student, with her, I > didn't have a lot of money. We drank $15 bottles (I drank $15 bottles) > of scotch. Moving through time she got a job (I was still a student). > We moved to $20 then $25 bottles of scotch. She was a person who often gave too much of herself. Charles wrote: > She had moved for the guy, she > was having problems in that relationship She was a little bit 'crazy' (I mean that in a nice sort of way; I'm a little bit crazy) in that she still continued to mantain a joint account with her ex; who is also a bit crazy (less the 'little'), and puts upon his current significant other way too much, as in screw who I want, we have an open relationship problem, not healthy for a family unit... Back to our deadlady... Then, besides her having given away too much for so long and having too little left - as a result of her recent life changes.... ...she had moved. That disrupts the fabric of one's 'being'. She had lost her cat. That also disrupts the fabric of one's being. Her /being/ was disrupted and dissolute. Like, as in not worth being. But, what about this part? Indigo wrote: > Severely depressed but otherwise mentally stable people who get so down > that they contemplate suicide typically think about the harm and pain it > would cause to those close to them and immediately cease considering > ending their life. The guilt they feel of being so selfish is too much > to take. As a person who had chronically given too much to those she shouldn't have (because for the most part, such old relationships were water under the bridge) ... then maybe she decided that she had been thinking too much about all of these other people including her family who might become distressed by her 'not being' anymore. So she decided to put her own feelings/needs first, for a change, instead of theirs. "I don't want to 'be' anymore. I'm tired of concerning myself about those other people and what they might feel or need." Then whatever came next came next. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 21 23:55:43 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Thu Oct 22 00:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:hbod9e$3j4$1@news.spamcop.net... > She was a little bit 'crazy' (I mean that in a nice sort of way; I'm a > little bit crazy) in that she still continued to mantain a joint account > with her ex; who is also a bit crazy (less the 'little'), and puts upon > his current significant other way too much, as in screw who I want, we > have an open relationship problem, not healthy for a family unit... When you first wrote about "I screw whoever I want" I thought you were joking....but now you're saying you actually have an "open" relationship with your SO? One guess tells me that only one person in the relationship takes advantage of 'opportunities' if they arise....if you're not yanking our chains. From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 22 00:16:05 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Thu Oct 22 00:20:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Heidi" wrote in message news:hboccl$2ah$1@news.spamcop.net... > > Speaking from personal experience, it has nothign to do with guts and has > everything to do with the hand life deals you. There ARE times when there > is literally nothing you can do to change anything, no choice but suck it > up and deal. That BS. I personally know one woman who lost it all (her 1st husband died after contracting AIDS from a blood transfusion) and she had the courage to literally sell everything she owned, buy a truck, and just head out west, camping in the back of her truck on most nights, just looking for a future somewhere, anywhere. Her travels led her to an almost empty honky-tonk in Montana one stormy night, where she met a man and his Dad -- they invited her to stay over at their ranch that night instead of sleeping in the rain. She ended up staying for months, and eventually married the guy (not his Dad ;-) and they now have 2 daughters. They were destined for each other, I saw it in their eyes the very first time I met them together in Boulder, CO, while I was out there on business many years ago. I thought she had lost her mind when she told me about her plans before she left, but things obviously turned out well! If you don't like your job, and there aren't any others out > there, then yes, your way out is to quit. And then go bankrupt, which will > make your life even worse than it already is. Sometimes there just are no > other options, not everything is within your control. The trick is to get > through it. Bankruptcy isn't the end of the world, one of my best friends had to file because his divorce agreement/child support payments were beyond his ability to pay. He ended up re-marrying, and used _her_ credit rating to get a mortgage (his name wasn't on the deed, although enough time has passed that now he may be listed as a co-owner). Notice the common trend in both stories? Start your life all over with a clean slate, and don't fear moving out of your "comfort zone". Yeah, it can be hard as hell to do it, but it IS a way to change your life, if you have the guts to do it. Realize, I'm not claiming that I'd be capable of doing something like I've described above......I'll never know exactly how I'd handle it unless the situation presents itself, which is certainly a possibility for me if UNUM cuts off my benefits before I'm able to get a job that pays somewhat near what I was earning before I got sick. From user at domain.invalid Thu Oct 22 01:08:12 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Thu Oct 22 01:10:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Old joke -- The New Math In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > Ha! I was unfamiliar with the term Feghoot and the eponymous (I had to > look that up, I was going to throw in some extra syllables) Ferdinand > Feghoot (title, not author). > > My enjoyment of shaggydogs is always in the elaborate telling of them. > Jumping directly to the punchline misses out on a world of beautiful > elaboration intended to completely engross the audience - to heighten > the 'grossing' of the same audience with the outlandish pun. It groans > so much better if the audience has been captured. > > > wiki "Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot" ... written by > Reginald Bretnor under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Grendel Briarton. > > Indeed, and once there was a website with fairly-well all the collected Ferdinand Feghoot tales (which were I-LXX, mostly published 1956-1964), including (I fancy) the "Squaw on the Hippopotamus" one, an elder but quite similar version IIRC, but alas they are copyright and I suppose we can't be having that. But here is a rare, 'tribute' Feghoot from Spider Robinson - http://www.awpi.com/Combs/Shaggy/048.html - and there is another, Briarton-original one, in that "Tarzan's Tripes Forever" site somewhere (which site I have mentioned here before, should the face ring a bell). The 'Briarton' example I regret (low creature that I am) is not the one about the lady admiral with pinnace envy but it is another fun multiple-pun one refuting the contention that Briarton didn't do those; neither of them is of the compound type like the famous "Focus ranch" stunner, that being the rare 'better is better' exception to the general rule of puns which seems to be 'the worse it is, the better it is' and consequently it is hard to find it in any fully-elaborated form (or at least it is for me). Proper shaggy dogs and Feghoots more or less evade the 'rule' through the quality and guile of the elaboration. I'm with you, I prefer the elaborated forms, but sometimes concern about reader 'tl;dr' response (too long - didn't read) /versus/ appreciation for the sheer ingenuity or dreadfulness of the pun - which might then go unread - can prompt the use of the 'bare' pun. I suppose anyone with integrity would refuse to reward the demand for 'instant gratification' so perhaps it is just an attention-seeking form of egotism to be swayed away. But I prefer to believe it is an impulse to 'socialize'. Naturally . From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Thu Oct 22 02:03:01 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Thu Oct 22 02:05:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Indigo said the following on 22/10/09 06:52: > > "Mr K. Mean" wrote in message > news:hbgr4p$5su$1@news.spamcop.net... >> Sadly, even with all that, you can't do it yourself. They have to >> really do it for themselves. You can help them but you can't fix it >> for them. For me, that was always the hardest part, no matter how hard >> I tried, I couldn't fix it. > > What's even sadder is when you very clearly show them the steps they > have to take, how to get from here to there, and they just can't take > that last (and most important) step...... Well, try saying you should eat less/stop smoking/exercise more/etc to somebody. Clearly if you stop eating pounds and pounds of horrible fatty food you will feel better and healthier. If they haven't made the decision to make changes in their life themselves, the response to any of the above is probably going to be f--k you, don't tell me what to do. From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 22 06:33:05 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Thu Oct 22 06:35:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:hbod9e$3j4$1@news.spamcop.net... ....and puts upon > his current significant other way too much, as in screw who I want, we > have an open relationship problem, not healthy for a family unit... Gee, I'm either naive or obtuse, but I took that statement as *extreme* Charles-flavored sarcasm...... From MikeE at ster.invalid Thu Oct 22 07:10:26 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Thu Oct 22 07:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Heidi wrote: > "Mike Easter" > ....and puts upon >> his current significant other way too much, as in screw who I want, we >> have an open relationship problem, not healthy for a family unit... > > Gee, I'm either naive or obtuse, but I took that statement as *extreme* > Charles-flavored sarcasm...... Chas doesn't help us with his styles of communication. Clearly he meant what he said when he said 'we have an open relationship'. Try parsing/dissecting the Chas par below one phrase at a time. Do you imbed a sarcasm phrase in the middle of an explanatory sandwich? Charles wrote: > "Indigo" >> And your wife was ok with that kind of communication with your ex? >> Most women I've known (and most guys I can think of, including me), >> would go ballistic for staying in such close contact with your ex. Not >> to kick you while you're down, but keeping up that kind of contact is >> pretty unusual unless there's a kid involved..... > > Oh, we have a very open relationship. I screw whoever I want to. Are > you busy Thursday - I've got some free time? Give me a break, dude. I > hear you and totally understand - I can't imagine I'd be all that > happy, either. But we were good friends and spent a lot of time > together. I kept things very clear at home and didn't hide anything. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 22 15:21:45 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 22 15:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Ping Charles Message-ID: Just a note to let you know I'm thinking of you and that you're in my prayers. From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 22 19:03:42 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Thu Oct 22 19:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Ping Charles References: Message-ID: "Frog Prince" wrote in message news:hbqbc6$rn0$1@news.spamcop.net... > Just a note to let you know I'm thinking of you and that you're in my > prayers. I'll second that, he's in for a very troubling, confusing and sad weekend, I'm afraid. :( From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 22 19:05:10 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Thu Oct 22 19:10:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CAC510471C31TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > It wasn't me! It was "Indigo" ! > >> if you're not yanking our chains. > > The only one I want outside of my present relationship is you. ROFL....... From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 22 19:11:37 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Thu Oct 22 19:15:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hboma4$6v3$1@news.spamcop.net... > > "Heidi" wrote in message > news:hboccl$2ah$1@news.spamcop.net... >> >> Speaking from personal experience, it has nothign to do with guts and has >> everything to do with the hand life deals you. There ARE times when >> there is literally nothing you can do to change anything, no choice but >> suck it up and deal. > > That BS. And that's also just you're opinion, and you know what they say about opinions.... > > Bankruptcy isn't the end of the world, one of my best friends had to file > because his divorce agreement/child support payments were beyond his > ability to pay. He ended up re-marrying, and used _her_ credit rating to > get a mortgage (his name wasn't on the deed, although enough time has > passed that now he may be listed as a co-owner). You know, if you want financial freedom and ever want to have a decent credit rating in your natural lifetime (or getting insurance, or credit, or a job since employers now have access to your credit rating too, - yet another form of legal discrimination), bankruptcy IS the end of the world. You're fucked, and you don't get away scot-free either. I would never EVER choose that voluntarily. > > Notice the common trend in both stories? Start your life all over with a > clean slate, and don't fear moving out of your "comfort zone". Yeah, it > can be hard as hell to do it, but it IS a way to change your life, if you > have the guts to do it. Realize, I'm not claiming that I'd be capable of > doing something like I've described above......I'll never know exactly how > I'd handle it unless the situation presents itself, which is certainly a > possibility for me if UNUM cuts off my benefits before I'm able to get a > job that pays somewhat near what I was earning before I got sick. That's all well and good to say that, but if you are a responsible adult, with a life, and a family, just 'moving out of your comfort zone' isn't going to fix anything, it may in fact make things much much worse. From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 22 19:13:13 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Thu Oct 22 19:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:hbpeiu$fur$1@news.spamcop.net... > Heidi wrote: > > Chas doesn't help us with his styles of communication. Clearly he meant > what he said when he said 'we have an open relationship'. Try > parsing/dissecting the Chas par below one phrase at a time. Do you > imbed a sarcasm phrase in the middle of an explanatory sandwich? Uh, I was just going with the absolute absurdity that Charles would cheat on his lovely wife and mother of his children with Indi. Seriously? From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 22 19:13:44 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Thu Oct 22 19:15:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CAC50E58FE50TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > > Why yes, I do. I fully understand that it makes me harder to understand. > I'm awfully sorry about that. My SO would be very unhappy were I to > extend > the boundaries of our relationship. Is that clear enough? I understood you. What does that mean for me? EEK. From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 22 19:37:59 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Thu Oct 22 19:40:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CACC554F3F6ETheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... >> > Anyway, in JFK and off for a very busy weekend, to say the least. I hope > that my presence is of assistance. I've got a lot of different non-family > things that I could do... But I'm keeping myself open deliberately for > the > family. Know what I mean? Here's hoping your pilots don't lose their 'situational awareness' and can actually find the airport.... From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 22 20:12:10 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 22 20:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CACA9D66DF25sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : "Frog Prince" wrote in : news:hbl34r$odm$1@news.spamcop.net: : : : > : > That works for adults but anything intended for a children's market : > should be location specific. If the parent or teacher wants to inject : > the different spelling/grammar then it's their choice. : : I totally disagree. It assumes that children are dumb, instead of giving : them a learning experience. Why not put notes in the back of the book, or : at the foot of the page explaining what a word means? As a youngster, I : read a lot of American fiction and it didn't take me long to figure out : what a trunk was (when no elephants were around), or an elevator and so on. You may have well been the exception. My wife, my daughter, my niece and DIL teach a gambit of educational opportunities including special ed. Kids need to taught a solid set of the basics THEN expand the fair. Some of the kids we get are waaaaaay behind due to screwed up basics. One I'm most proud of came to our family @ ~15 with a second grade education (verified by extensive testing). She's 19 and struggling but struggling at UNC. We've kids that do English and Spanish grammar interchangeable and both poorly because the system was geared to kids that did not speak English. When the languages are taught separately the kids do fine. When it's a co-lingual method none of them do well. From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 23 00:54:10 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 23 00:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Added benefits to a new job In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Borgholio wrote in > news:hbl9aj$mci$2@news.spamcop.net: > >> My overall income doubled which means I just qualified for a new car >> loan to replace the one I got from the dealership. This new loan is >> 6% (my old one was 8.9%) and I save over $32 per month on payments. I >> would not have qualified before the new job due to "excessive debt to >> income ratio". So this new job essentially netted me another 8 bucks >> a week. :-P >> > > But did you just tie yourself in to another 5 years of debt? Nope, this loan is to replace my existing loan. Overall I've only added 4 months to amount of time left to pay off the car, and saved money doing it. From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 23 01:02:42 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Fri Oct 23 01:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Heidi" wrote in message news:hbqoua$12s$1@news.spamcop.net... > Uh, I was just going with the absolute absurdity that Charles would cheat > on his lovely wife and mother of his children with Indi. Seriously? > Hey now, if I was into that he might have the time of his life! ;-) From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 23 01:03:54 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Fri Oct 23 01:05:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Heidi" wrote in message news:hbqof7$t9$1@news.spamcop.net... > > "Charles" wrote in message > news:Xns9CAC510471C31TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... >> It wasn't me! It was "Indigo" ! >> >>> if you're not yanking our chains. >> >> The only one I want outside of my present relationship is you. > > ROFL....... > Gosh, I feel so special now! From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Oct 23 10:19:37 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Fri Oct 23 10:20:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: Heidi wrote: > "Mike Easter" >> Chas doesn't help us with his styles of communication. Clearly he >> meant what he said when he said 'we have an open relationship'. Try >> parsing/dissecting the Chas par below one phrase at a time. Do you >> imbed a sarcasm phrase in the middle of an explanatory sandwich? > > Uh, I was just going with the absolute absurdity that Charles would > cheat on his lovely wife and mother of his children with Indi. > Seriously? With Chas communication, I feel like I have to use clues rather than out and out unambiguous statements. Chas has referred to the mother of his children as his significant other. Chas has referred to his ex as an ex but not an ex-wife or ex-gf or ex-so, but 'as someone he maintained a joint account and ongoing communication for years. And you want me to guess at fidelity or monogamy issues or type of marriage processes or their significance? I don't think so. I know lots and lots of people who either haven't been married (in some sense or another) or haven't been monogamous thru'out their lives and who have some kind or another of open relationships. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 23 11:34:39 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 23 11:35:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Friends and enemies Message-ID: A skeptical anthropologist was cataloging South American folk remedies with the assistance of a tribal brujo who indicated that the leaves of a particular fern were a sure cure for any case of constipation. When the anthropologist expressed his doubts, the brujo looked him in the eye and said, " Let me tell you, with fronds like these, who needs enemas ?" From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 23 19:16:44 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Fri Oct 23 19:20:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: crazy things References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CADA6C46D164TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > No way it was me! It was Sylvesterthekat ! > >> How long is your flight btw, do you set off tomorrow? > > 26 hours door to door. I'm very tired. Bonjour.... From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Oct 23 21:04:12 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Fri Oct 23 21:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: crazy things References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > 26 hours door to door. West to east dysynchrony is significantly worse than the other way - sometimes mitigated by using red-eyes instead of daytime-based flights. If you start off in the daytime and fly east about 8 timezones for 26 hours, your normal diurnal rhythm gets really whacked. Also, lots of that 26 hours is spent in places not conducive to sleeping/napping, like airplane seats and terminal gate seating. ...unless you have a chance to 'turn out the lights and sounds' (blindfolds and noise cancellers) and lie down across some empty airplane seats or on the terminal gate floor. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 23 21:41:44 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 23 21:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Oh the fluffy white References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CADB30FB1F9Asylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : "Frog Prince" wrote in : news:hbqse7$2ch$1@news.spamcop.net: : : > : > You may have well been the exception. : : Oh I sure hope not, for all our sakes. This isn't brain surgery, or even : learning a foreign language, it's just the odd word here and there and : anyone with a reasonably good foundation education would have no problems. That (foundation) is exactly what I'm talking about. There are all sorts of trial ideas and theorist out and about in our education systems with the result that the kids don't have a decent foundation in the basics. From user at domain.invalid Fri Oct 23 23:56:52 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Sat Oct 24 00:00:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Friends and enemies In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > A skeptical anthropologist was cataloging South American folk remedies ... Well, let's not neglect North American folk remedies. When Sitting Bull of the Lakota Sioux was in exile in Canada he fell ill with a lingering stomach complaint which wore away at his stoicism. He finally summoned his medicine man, an ancient who knew all the healing lore of the people, passed down through all the generations of the tribe. "Sitting Bull," he said, "I have seen this before. You need to eat a piece of buffalo rawhide each night. From the hide of a white buffalo, from a strip half the width of your little finger and eight times the length of your arm, you must eat one piece the length of your little finger each night from one full moon to the next." "Left hand or right hand?" asked Sitting Bull. "It doesn't matter," replied the medicine man. "So left arm or right arm doesn't matter either? asked Sitting Bull. "No," said the medicine man. "White buffalo?" queried Sitting Bull "Certainly, nothing else." So Sitting Bull sent a score of swift runners to the Great Plains, through the lands of their enemies, the Cheyenne, the Cree and the Crow (and that's just the ones beginning with "C") and after many adventures and losing half their number they killed a great white buffalo on the plains, each took a strip of rawhide from its skin and set off to return. Of that ten, only one made it back (the hostile tribes were waiting ...), but made it back he did and presented Sitting Bull with his rawhide. "Thanks," said Sitting Bull and sent for the medicine man. "One piece, half the length of my little finger, nightly for one moon, right?" "Tantalizingly close," said the medicine man, quickly checking the length, "One piece the *full* length of your little finger, nightly until all gone. I will come back in one moon to check how you are, and give you my bill." As promised, 29.5305882 days later the medicine man came back. "How now Chief?" he queried, "All better?" Sitting Bull regarded him balefully and made this reply, "The thong is gone but the malady lingers on!" From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 24 10:55:42 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 24 11:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Friends and enemies References: Message-ID: A marine biologist developed a race of genetically engineered Dolphins that could live forever if they were fed a steady diet of seagulls. One day his supply of the birds ran out, so he had to go out and trap some more. On the way back, he spied two lions asleep on the road. Afraid to wake them, he gingerly stepped over them. Immediately, he was arrested and charged with transporting gulls across sedate lions for immortal porpoises. From avoozl at spamcop.net Sat Oct 24 23:18:13 2009 From: avoozl at spamcop.net (Chris F. Willoughby) Date: Sat Oct 24 23:20:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Friends and enemies References: Message-ID: "Frog Prince" wrote in message news:hbv4ha$llk$1@news.spamcop.net... >A marine biologist developed a race of genetically engineered Dolphins that > could live forever if they were fed a steady diet of seagulls. > > One day his supply of the birds ran out, so he had to go out and trap some > more. On the way back, he spied two lions asleep on the road. > > Afraid to wake them, he gingerly stepped over them. > > Immediately, he was arrested and charged with transporting gulls across > sedate lions for immortal porpoises. > > > *groan* Bad froggie, BAD! From user at domain.invalid Sun Oct 25 00:04:17 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Sun Oct 25 00:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Friends and enemies In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Frog Prince wrote: > A marine biologist developed a race of genetically engineered Dolphins that > could live forever if they were fed a steady diet of seagulls. > > One day his supply of the birds ran out, so he had to go out and trap some > more. On the way back, he spied two lions asleep on the road. > > Afraid to wake them, he gingerly stepped over them. > > Immediately, he was arrested and charged with transporting gulls across > sedate lions for immortal porpoises. > A triple! - those are rare. From nobody at spamcop.net Sun Oct 25 08:58:35 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Sun Oct 25 09:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:hbse1d$ljf$1@news.spamcop.net... > With Chas communication, I feel like I have to use clues rather than out > and out unambiguous statements. > > Chas has referred to the mother of his children as his significant > other. Chas has referred to his ex as an ex but not an ex-wife or ex-gf > or ex-so, but 'as someone he maintained a joint account and ongoing > communication for years. > > And you want me to guess at fidelity or monogamy issues or type of > marriage processes or their significance? I don't think so. > > I know lots and lots of people who either haven't been married (in some > sense or another) or haven't been monogamous thru'out their lives and > who have some kind or another of open relationships. > Well, I *thought* he and his SO were married, in fact I'm pretty sure I remember it happening before the arrival of Child #1. My gut sense about Charles' character and his sense of honesty and integrity, however oddly and abstractly he projects it makes me think that 'open marriage' stuff or for that matter, cheating, with children involved just ain't gonna happen. From MikeE at ster.invalid Sun Oct 25 22:36:54 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Sun Oct 25 22:40:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] The Letter Message-ID: I watched a very enjoyable old movie last night. The Letter (1940) - well played by Bette Davis the murdress and James Stephenson the lawyer (in an academy nominating role) which Stephenson I hadn't noticed before that picture - it was well directed by William Wyler, most especially the opening scene and some other noir. That caused me to research a bit about the Somerset Maugham screenplay, its long Broadway run, the two movies based on it which followed; and then that caused me to do a little reading about Jeanne Eagels, who played the murdress role in the 1929 version and was subsequently posthumously nominated for an academy award for that, which posthumous consideration caused me to read about Eagels unexpected and drug related death at age 39; which Hollywood/celebrity death led me to a page^1 with 42 significant celebrity overdoses (as maybe suicides or maybe accidents or maybe not), which reminded me of the recent thread here about the lady who might have allegedly (also) committed suicide somehow. Or else maybe not. Here's a small sampling of the 42, alphabetic for tidiness Nick Adams John Belushi Montgomery Clift Dorothy Dandridge Jeanne Eagels W.C. Fields Judy Garland Margaux Hemingway Alan Ladd Heath Ledger B?la Lugosi Marilyn Monroe River Phoenix George Sanders Jean Seberg ^1 http://www.celebritydrugdeaths.com/hollywood-drug-overdose-deaths.php 42 Hollywood Drug Overdoses -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From MikeE at ster.invalid Sun Oct 25 23:08:55 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Sun Oct 25 23:10:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > Eagels unexpected and drug related > death at age 39; 1930 Time Magazine article ratting out Eagels' drug doc http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,739496,00.html Medicine: Case of Jeanne Eagels Monday, Jun. 09, 1930 Actress Jeanne Eagels, restless and intemperate, died last October in Manhattan at the Park Avenue Hospital, a private psychotherapeutic sanitarium. ... An overdose of heroin killed her. ... focused attention on her physician, Dr. Edward Spencer Cowles, 51, neurologist, psychiatrist, ... proprietor of the Park Avenue Hospital. A licensed physician since 1907, Dr. Cowles is not considered "orthodox." He is not a member of any local or state medical society, nor of the American Medical Association. Nor does the A. M. A. accept his sanitarium for its register of hospitals. Nevertheless his personality, his shrewdness, his results have won him many a famed and wealthy patient ..."I had treated Miss Eagels for almost ten years and never knew of her taking any drugs. Any story that drugs caused her death or contributed to her death is false." Didn't George Santayana leave a message for M. Jackson, A.N. Smith and some others, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Mon Oct 26 00:57:31 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Mon Oct 26 01:00:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Heidi said the following on 25/10/09 23:58: > > Well, I *thought* he and his SO were married, in fact I'm pretty sure I > remember it happening before the arrival of Child #1. My gut sense about > Charles' character and his sense of honesty and integrity, however oddly and > abstractly he projects it makes me think that 'open marriage' stuff or for > that matter, cheating, with children involved just ain't gonna happen. Hasn't this all been a huge overreaction? Wasn't it all a joke (you know, Indi, you are my next fling). And yeah, I remember hearing about a wedding a while back, back in Maine, wasn't it? From user at domain.invalid Mon Oct 26 01:13:18 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Mon Oct 26 01:15:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > Mike Easter wrote: > > > Didn't George Santayana leave a message for M. Jackson, A.N. Smith and > some others, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat > it," > Indeed, it is somewhere in "The Life of Reason - the Phases of Human Progress" according to Wikipedia (that Santayanan opus is not a work I have studied) and perhaps his most famous aphorism, much misquoted I know (with "forget history" substituted for "cannot remember the past"). But, like much of the human experience, it has two edges I think. As just one instance, many a mother would tell us no second baby would be born if it were otherwise. But, at its keener edge, the tragedy of indulgence and, sometimes, despair we discussed at the time of Heath Ledger's death, I think, and looked then at the much longer list, the one at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drug-related_deaths . Ah, I see Elvis Presley is back on that list /pro tem/. I think his name is removed from there from time to time; it wasn't there when last I looked. "Loyalty", wishful thinking or perhaps the legend greater than truth, the myth "more memorable than the truth and less mutable"? Those are all part of our sentimental/self-serving amnesia. Both our weakness and our strength. What Frenchman could bear to celebrate the "real" story of the storming of the Bastille? The pointlessness, the meanness, treachery and cruelty. Are those nothing compared to the beacon it has come to symbolize? When we consider the tragic, needless, often self-indulgent deaths of those celebrities who could not remember the many who preceded them, or did not care enough, we might think to raise such questions. But we're not the ones who matter. From avoozl at spamcop.net Mon Oct 26 02:46:07 2009 From: avoozl at spamcop.net (Chris F. Willoughby) Date: Mon Oct 26 02:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter References: Message-ID: "Farelf" wrote in message news:hc3b54$7p5$1@news.spamcop.net... > Those are all part of our sentimental/self-serving amnesia. Both our > weakness and our strength. What Frenchman could bear to celebrate the > "real" story of the storming of the Bastille? The pointlessness, the > meanness, treachery and cruelty. Are those nothing compared to the beacon > it has come to symbolize? I'd be curious to hear the real story. :) Not french though.. From user at domain.invalid Mon Oct 26 03:46:25 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Mon Oct 26 03:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Chris F. Willoughby wrote: > > I'd be curious to hear the real story. :) Not french though.. Arthur Bryant in "The Years of Endurance 1793-1802" tells it as follows (pp 36,37): ***************************************************************** On Tuesday, 14th July, 1789 - more than three years before the event described at the beginning of this book - a great multitude of men and women assembled in front of the Bastille, the old royal fortress of Paris. They were in a state of intense excitement. They demanded that the governor, de Launey, who held the place for the young King of France, should hand it over to the representatives of the people. The governor, whose command consisted of eighty old pensioners and thirty Swiss Guards, did his best to appease them: showed them the emptiness of the fortress and had the ancient guns, long used only for ceremonial purposes, pulled back from the embrasures. But the crowd was in no mood for reason. Behind it all Paris, surging through narrow, cobbled streets, was in revolution, the tocsin was ringing from every tower and a great flag, which was not the flag of the French monarchy, was being borne above a raging, shouting, trampling human river. As the pressure grew the governor, who had admitted the crowd into the outer courtyard, had the drawbridge leading to the inner court raised. Then someone severed the chains of the bridge with an axe and it dropped, letting the mob into the heart of the castle. Firing began, and for four hours the people, delirious with rage and excitement, hurled themselves at the walls. During these hours the Bastille, with its high antique towers flickering crimson, became the symbol of a dying society: its death throes the commemoration of the birth of a new force in the world, terrible to all who opposed it, full of mysterious hope to those who accepted it. A few minutes before the great clock of the Bastille tolled five someone in the garrison raised a white flag. There was some parleying through a porthole, a hasty promise of parole by an unofficial spokesman and then as the doors were unbolted all Hell let loose. For an hour the multitude from the medieval streets swarmed through the fortress howling for blood. Old de Launey and his officers were torn to pieces and their heads mounted on pikes. The dazed prisoners - four coiners, a sadistic debauchee and two madmen - were let out into the glare and sulphurous air of the new freedom. Then the mob poured back into the city, bearing aloft the dripping heads like banners, to murder the chief magistrate in the Hotel-de-Ville. ***************************************************************** As to the truth - well, there are probably no dispassionate accounts, but I doubt the details of fact given above are far wrong. Some emotional colouration and a little conjecture make this a wholly unsympathetic telling, much influenced by British views and observations made during and immediately following the several wars with the French 1793-1815 and resurrected by Bryant in 1942 when he wished to bolster British morale as they faced the Nazi juggernaut the same way they had once faced Napoleon. Bryant started writing this book in 1940, I think, during the Battle of Britain. The liberated - "four coiners, a sadistic debauchee and two madmen." Such is the stuff of legend. From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 26 07:00:42 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Mon Oct 26 07:05:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 10 years References: Message-ID: "Mr K. Mean" wrote in message news:hc3a7t$7ed$1@news.spamcop.net... > Heidi said the following on 25/10/09 23:58: >> >> Well, I *thought* he and his SO were married, in fact I'm pretty sure I >> remember it happening before the arrival of Child #1. My gut sense about >> Charles' character and his sense of honesty and integrity, however oddly >> and >> abstractly he projects it makes me think that 'open marriage' stuff or >> for >> that matter, cheating, with children involved just ain't gonna happen. > > Hasn't this all been a huge overreaction? Wasn't it all a joke (you know, > Indi, you are my next fling). And yeah, I remember hearing about a wedding > a while back, back in Maine, wasn't it? *I* thought so, can't imagine why anyone would take such a ridiculous statement seriously! From MikeE at ster.invalid Mon Oct 26 12:44:37 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Mon Oct 26 12:45:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter References: Message-ID: Farelf wrote: > Mike Easter wrote: >> Didn't George Santayana leave a message > But, at its keener edge, the tragedy of indulgence and, sometimes, > despair we discussed at the time of Heath Ledger's death, I think, and > looked then at the much longer list, the one at > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_drug-related_deaths . > > Ah, I see Elvis Presley is back on that list /pro tem/. I think his name > is removed from there from time to time; it wasn't there when last I > looked. Both Presley and Ledger and numerous others are examples of the category of Combined Drug Intoxication -- lots and lots and lots of dangerous misuse of lots of drugs in potentially lethal combinations culminating in an 'accidental' fatal event. Presley's diagnosis is clouded by the fact that one of his bad doctor's early evasive pronouncement may have been correct, he could've died a cardiovascular death because of an arrhythmia which was undiagnosed in death. The only thing still around for the forensics was all the drugs. His cardiovascular system didn't show any findings which would cause sudden death, but there was plenty of combined toxicology. Presley's autopsy review by Cyril Wecht http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/forensics/cyril_wecht/4 .html Cyril Wecht: Forensic Pathologist - Coverup for a King It seems strange that a word like 'accident' would be so ambiguous. If it is no accident that a drug or drugs are intentionally used or taken, and that such usage can result in death by 'overdose' - which also isn't exactly the right word for the combined toxicity - then the death is only an 'accident' in that the corpse when living wasn't expecting to intentionally actually die just then. There certainly are a lot of amateurs and professionals as well misusing a lot of drugs everywhere, not just in celebrity and noncelebrity deaths. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 26 12:52:12 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Mon Oct 26 12:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CB091912450sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > http://picasaweb.google.com/sylvesterthekat/U2# Good god, no wonder tickets cost so much!! Any idea how much that monstrosity cost to build? Must cost well over $100k to erect and tear down that thing for every concert, plus the cost of how many 18-wheelers to haul it from city to city?!? I don't even want to know how much power they (the band's amps and the set) consume during a concert, probably enough to power my whole neighborhood during the same period of time! That makes me think of another huge cost, I'll bet they have to bring their own gigantic electrical generators too, since most facilities probably can't supply enough juice. From me at privacy.net Mon Oct 26 13:42:04 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Mon Oct 26 13:45:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hc4k3q$trq$1@news.spamcop.net... : : "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message : news:Xns9CB091912450sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : > http://picasaweb.google.com/sylvesterthekat/U2# : : Good god, no wonder tickets cost so much!! Any idea how much that : monstrosity cost to build? Must cost well over $100k to erect and tear down : that thing for every concert, plus the cost of how many 18-wheelers to haul : it from city to city?!? I don't even want to know how much power they (the : band's amps and the set) consume during a concert, probably enough to power : my whole neighborhood during the same period of time! That makes me think of : another huge cost, I'll bet they have to bring their own gigantic electrical : generators too, since most facilities probably can't supply enough juice. In Dallas the upstairs acoustics were terrible. A lot of ticket holders in the nose bleed section left early and complained to no avail. As to transport according to media reports they had 400 18 wheelers (seems like a lot and I may have miss understood the report) From me at privacy.net Mon Oct 26 16:46:44 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Mon Oct 26 16:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CB0728E89627sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : "Frog Prince" wrote in : news:hc4n1c$uuu$1@news.spamcop.net: : : > In Dallas the upstairs acoustics were terrible. A lot of ticket : > holders in the nose bleed section left early and complained to no : > avail. : > : > As to transport according to media reports they had 400 18 wheelers : > (seems like a lot and I may have miss understood the report) : > : > : > : : More like 40 I'd say. I was down there a few days before the concert and : there were about that many trucks probably. I took some pics, they're there : as part of my albums too. : : Sound was great where I was, maybe Dallas has a higher but smaller stadium? Dallas Cowboy stadium in Arlington TX. NOT a small venue. http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/ From me at privacy.net Mon Oct 26 19:30:25 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Mon Oct 26 19:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CB0A2F207777sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : "Frog Prince" wrote in news:hc51rt$3bq$1@news.spamcop.net: : : : > : > Dallas Cowboy stadium in Arlington TX. NOT a small venue. : > : > http://stadium.dallascowboys.com/ : > : : Looking at the pics, it seems like the roof is retractable but that some of : the seating areas are partially covered all the time. That might explain : why there were acoustic issues, because the sound would have been bouncing : off that bit of roof which wasn't an issue at the Bowl because it's : completely open. It's odd that there were more people at the Bowl than at : the Dallas event, when that's supposedly bigger. More people in capacity or more people in attendance? I've not gone to the Cowboy arena and have zero intention of even considering going. Most I know personally that have been there and done that, don't plan to go again for sports or entertainment. From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 26 21:40:23 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Mon Oct 26 21:45:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Frog Prince" wrote in message news:hc4n1c$uuu$1@news.spamcop.net... > > As to transport according to media reports they had 400 18 wheelers (seems > like a lot and I may have miss understood the report) > 400 is a bit higher than I would have guessed by I believe it. Can you imagine the traffic jams that convery must cause as it travels between cities? I wonder if they close down certain roads while the convoy enters the city to prevent a day long traffic jam? From nobody at spamcop.net Mon Oct 26 21:52:10 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Mon Oct 26 21:55:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CB0B1C84497Csylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > > Supposedly it has capacity for 111k people but at the rose bowl yesterday > they played to their biggest audience so far of 96k. Therefore in theory > the cowboys' stadium is bigger but it wasn't filled for the concert for > some reason. Maybe in that 111k they're not allowing room for a stage, > thus > the rose bowl is actually bigger? who knows The Rose Bowl Stadium is ENORMOUS. They regularly top 100k plus for the games played there, and that means people in seats, not including temp seating on the field itself. > > First time i've ever been to an event in a stadium, highly unlikely I'll > ever go to a sporting event but I might go see U2 again sometime in the > future. > First time EVER?!? Jeez, why have you spent your life hiding under a rock for so long? My first stadium event, excluding baseball games, occurred when I was 18. Went to the old (and now gone) JFK stadium in Philly where the Eagles played football. It was one of those all day concert affairs. Lessee how good my memory is....I saw Elvis Costello, A Flock of Seagulls, Robert Hazard (a local Philly band), and several other band who's name escape me. Genesis (post Peter Gabriel) closed out, and they opened by playing Squonk, an AMAZING performance and a perfect opening song for getting the crowd revved up. Those first 30-45 seconds of that moment are burned into my brain like a video, I can remember every note and the light show -- lame compared to what they have now, but sometimes *simple* has a more powerful effect, it doesn't overwhelm you and take your attention away from the music. They co-join to create a magical aural and visual experience. From me at privacy.net Mon Oct 26 22:30:00 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Mon Oct 26 22:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Funeral Webcasting Is Alive and Well Message-ID: http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/innovation/funeral-webcasting-is-alive-and-well From user at domain.invalid Tue Oct 27 01:37:12 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Tue Oct 27 01:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: ... > > It seems strange that a word like 'accident' would be so ambiguous. If > it is no accident that a drug or drugs are intentionally used or taken, > and that such usage can result in death by 'overdose' - which also isn't > exactly the right word for the combined toxicity - then the death is > only an 'accident' in that the corpse when living wasn't expecting to > intentionally actually die just then. > Thoughtful material, as always, Mike. On the point of 'accident', I think there needs to be some recognition of risk-taking (carelessness) which is very often the 'cause' of accidents. That and the confluence of a chain of contributing factors of varying probability. My point is, when I was handling industrial (serious & fatal) accident reports, I recall that was almost always the case. Sometimes the injured/deceased would literally have needed to have stayed in bed to avoid their 'fate' (and/or sometimes it was not their own risk-taking that was the cause) but, generally, pure chance was seldom enough - 'someone' had more often put themselves and/or others in peril. Not that this is always (I would go so far as to say 'often' in the industrial context) recognised as legal liability, not so far as blaming the actual provoker of risk. Legal liability is a whole different matter and sometimes/often holds others to account, those who should have somehow have saved that risk agent from themselves. Bottom line, I don't really see any real difference in occasional death and injury from 'combined toxicity' and most other accidents. There is (mostly) risky behaviour at the bottom of it though the consequences were not evident beforehand. It is very sad - as you say, there was no intention (by anyone) that it should end so. From MikeE at ster.invalid Tue Oct 27 02:05:01 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Tue Oct 27 02:05:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter References: Message-ID: Farelf wrote: > Mike Easter wrote: >> It seems strange that a word like 'accident' would be so ambiguous. If >> it is no accident that a drug or drugs are intentionally used or taken, >> and that such usage can result in death by 'overdose' > Bottom line, I don't really see any real difference in occasional death > and injury from 'combined toxicity' and most other accidents. There is > (mostly) risky behaviour at the bottom of it though the consequences > were not evident beforehand. It is very sad - as you say, there was no > intention (by anyone) that it should end so. Well, if you really want to stretch a word, one could say that the pilots who recently flew past their destination city for a while did so 'accidentally'. They certainly didn't intend to. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Tue Oct 27 02:44:41 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Tue Oct 27 02:45:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Indigo said the following on 27/10/09 12:52: > > First time EVER?!? Jeez, why have you spent your life hiding under a > rock for so long? My first stadium event, excluding baseball games, > occurred when I was 18. Went to the old (and now gone) JFK stadium in > Philly where the Eagles played football. It was one of those all day > concert affairs. Lessee how good my memory is....I saw Elvis Costello, A > Flock of Seagulls, Robert Hazard (a local Philly band), and several > other band who's name escape me. Genesis (post Peter Gabriel) closed > out, and they opened by playing Squonk, an AMAZING performance and a > perfect opening song for getting the crowd revved up. Those first 30-45 > seconds of that moment are burned into my brain like a video, I can > remember every note and the light show -- lame compared to what they > have now, but sometimes *simple* has a more powerful effect, it doesn't > overwhelm you and take your attention away from the music. They co-join > to create a magical aural and visual experience. I just can't imagine going to a stadium show. (Festivals are a different thing, 2-3 days of camping and dozens of bands, that's pretty cool. Especially when you can get in for nothing.) I don't think I've seen a proper stadium show, and I can't really imagine wanting to see one. I'm not sure there is any band I like enough to pay $100+ and to sit a mile away and see little ants moving around the stage (or watching on a video screen, ick). I'm horrified enough that I'm paying like $50 to see the Pixies here in March. I guess I saw U2 in a sports arena (1984, I believe. I missed them at Red Rocks but a lot of my friends are in the video of that) which was already too big. R.E.M. too, about that time in the same area after seeing them in a small hall the year before, sigh. Give me a $10 show any day where I can stand up right next to the stage, which I already do a few times a month. From user at domain.invalid Tue Oct 27 03:03:24 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Tue Oct 27 03:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > > Well, if you really want to stretch a word, one could say that the > pilots who recently flew past their destination city for a while did so > 'accidentally'. > > They certainly didn't intend to. > Heh, good point and I could live with that. That was an 'incident' (or 'near miss') meaning it was well on the way to becoming an 'accident', lacking just one or more circumstantial factors to make it into an accident. Those cases are safety-investigated with fairly-well all the rigour and seriousness of an actual accident investigation and have much the same weight in terms of the recommendations arising from them. In a way those incident investigations are more valuable to safety than accident investigations - there is access to all the physical evidence (intact) and a complete 'cast' of witnesses. I don't know, but I suspect that a higher proportion of incident reports result in findings of 'malfunction' causes (as opposed to 'pilot error') than is the case with accident reports - and which I think most pilots would believe is nearer to the truth. I recall that Ernest K. Gann who wrote "The High and the Mighty" - those of us of 'a certain age' would at least recognise the subsequent movie theme tune - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3LVMN1c9wc - was a test pilot at one time and describes in his autobiography ("Fate is the Hunter") how he eventually gave it away through the conviction that aircraft were out to get him - in the Gallic 'les choses sont contre nous'/resistentialist sense. IIRC. Pilots, like powder monkeys, are *not* risk takers in the normal course of events, no matter what the insurance companies (through their premiums) might say. There is a 'natural selection' process ... But the pilots you mention have already admitted to 'pilot error' so I'm thinking they are the exceptions to prove/test the rule in that profession. From MikeE at ster.invalid Tue Oct 27 03:04:48 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Tue Oct 27 03:05:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > Farelf wrote: >> Mike Easter wrote: > >>> It seems strange that a word like 'accident' would be so ambiguous. If >>> it is no accident that a drug or drugs are intentionally used or >>> taken, and that such usage can result in death by 'overdose' > >> Bottom line, I don't really see any real difference in occasional death >> and injury from 'combined toxicity' and most other accidents. There is >> (mostly) risky behaviour at the bottom of it though the consequences >> were not evident beforehand. It is very sad - as you say, there was no >> intention (by anyone) that it should end so. > > Well, if you really want to stretch a word, one could say that the > pilots who recently flew past their destination city for a while did so > 'accidentally'. > > They certainly didn't intend to. Or, a couple of teenagers or otheragers get pregnant by accident. We use the word accidental 'charitably' for consequences which weren't purposed. If you do something rashly or riskily that someone using good judgment wouldn't do or wouldn't do in that manner because the action or manner could have adverse consequences, is it an 'accident' when the adverse consequences occur? It would seem to me that accidental isn't the best word. It only contrasts usefully with doing the same thing on purpose. If someone tries to (really) commit suicide and leaves a note, but fails in their endeavor because they are an amateur doser and because killing something with drugs is more complicated than many would expect, is that considered an accidental underdosage? There must be something wrong with the language/usage if it is. How about if you leave a note but you didn't *really* intend to commit suicide, you were just being dramatic. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From user at domain.invalid Tue Oct 27 04:08:48 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Tue Oct 27 04:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > > We use the word accidental 'charitably' for consequences which weren't > purposed. If you do something rashly or riskily that someone using good > judgment wouldn't do or wouldn't do in that manner because the action or > manner could have adverse consequences, is it an 'accident' when the > adverse consequences occur? > Well, rather than charitably doing it, we are perhaps reverting to the Latin source meaning. IIUC /accidentum/ simply meant something, some incident, an event, that happened. There was no particular freight of causation or probability. Now we (or some of us) want to use 'accident' to mean mishap with the particular shade of meaning that it was in no way the intention or doing of the person to whom it happened. 'Accident' would seem a very bad word, perhaps the worst word that could be chosen because of its etymology, to bend to such a meaning - the ambiguity you wrote about (back there somewhere). But of course the language is probably full of words and phrases which have reversed their meaning over time. Nathless - 'unintended' or 'unexpected' is certainly a current usage of the word, included within the main ones of the 7 definitions of the Random House dictionary. Merriam-Webster's medical dictionary specifically links it to "carelessness, unawareness, ignorance, or a combination of causes," as does their legal dictionary but that adds the qualification "without intent or volition" which is important. Mercifully I have forgotten the source that mentioned something about underpants (I doubt it was germane). From MikeE at ster.invalid Tue Oct 27 04:54:49 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Tue Oct 27 04:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter References: Message-ID: Farelf wrote: > Mike Easter wrote: >> We use the word accidental 'charitably' for consequences which weren't >> purposed. If you do something rashly or riskily that someone using >> good judgment wouldn't do or wouldn't do in that manner because the >> action or manner could have adverse consequences, is it an 'accident' >> when the adverse consequences occur? > Nathless - 'unintended' or 'unexpected' is certainly a current usage of > the word, included within the main ones of the 7 definitions of the > Random House dictionary. This reminds me somewhat of the bogus joejob or the trick/fake bogus joejob issue when discerning the intent is complete guesswork. Let's say you are overwrought with your depression and frustration with your loved one and you are going to 'show them' how upset you are, so you leave a suicide note, but it is your actual intention to just overdose/gesture a little bit, take a few tranquilizers and immediately call your boyfriend in tears. So, now if you unfortunately do die by some miscalculation/misadventure, that is actually an accidental overdose - with note - which might become adjudicated to be an intentional overdose 'suicide' by those who misjudged your strategy/ploy. And/But if you are saved/rescued in time, that would be an /apparent/ genuine suicide attempt (failed) as opposed to the reality of it actually being an intentional underdose (with note). The reason for stirring the pot with the accidental (or not) spoon is that it is so wrapped up in the idea of 'intent', but the reality is that some (true and correct) notions of an accident are based on wildly unpredictable happenstances or 'freakish' occurrences, whereas some other things we refer to as 'accidents' are quite predictable and could hardly be called an accident if we intentionally perform the act which results in something unhappily unintended - that we *hoped* wouldn't happen, even tho' our 'mother' or something rational and mature might predict that it might very well happen. So the teens accidentally get pregnant while they were misbehaving and the pilots accidentally fly past their destination while they were studying. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From user at domain.invalid Tue Oct 27 06:52:14 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Tue Oct 27 06:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: The Letter In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Mike Easter wrote: > Farelf wrote: >> Mike Easter wrote: > >>> We use the word accidental 'charitably' for consequences which > weren't >>> purposed. If you do something rashly or riskily that someone using >>> good judgment wouldn't do or wouldn't do in that manner because the >>> action or manner could have adverse consequences, is it an 'accident' >>> when the adverse consequences occur? > >> Nathless - 'unintended' or 'unexpected' is certainly a current usage > of >> the word, included within the main ones of the 7 definitions of the >> Random House dictionary. > > This reminds me somewhat of the bogus joejob or the trick/fake bogus > joejob issue when discerning the intent is complete guesswork. 'Intent' is always a guess - even freely-given confessions are sometime revealed to be bogus. Maybe we are seduced in our thinking by our legal system which demands to know the unknowable. Other legal systems work a little differently, I hear (especially Code Napoleon). But they all seem to set great store by confession and that doesn't argue perfect reliability of method to my way of thinking. > > Let's say you are overwrought with your depression and frustration with > your loved one and you are going to 'show them' how upset you are, so > you leave a suicide note, but it is your actual intention to just > overdose/gesture a little bit, take a few tranquilizers and immediately > call your boyfriend in tears. > > So, now if you unfortunately do die by some miscalculation/misadventure, > that is actually an accidental overdose - with note - which might become > adjudicated to be an intentional overdose 'suicide' by those who > misjudged your strategy/ploy. And/But if you are saved/rescued in time, > that would be an /apparent/ genuine suicide attempt (failed) as opposed > to the reality of it actually being an intentional underdose (with > note). The 'cry for help'? It could even turn out to be murder (by omission) if the truth be known. There are clues to the probability of a deadly serious attempt no doubt. Sometimes the intent would be quite unmistakable, many times it might not be so clear-cut. No-one can know with absolute certainty in any case but loved ones and insurance companies want to know. > > The reason for stirring the pot with the accidental (or not) spoon is > that it is so wrapped up in the idea of 'intent', but the reality is > that some (true and correct) notions of an accident are based on wildly > unpredictable happenstances or 'freakish' occurrences, whereas some > other things we refer to as 'accidents' are quite predictable and could > hardly be called an accident if we intentionally perform the act which > results in something unhappily unintended - that we *hoped* wouldn't > happen, even tho' our 'mother' or something rational and mature might > predict that it might very well happen. I notice 'reasonable expectation' seems not to be a legal concept (and perhaps is even on its last legs as anything that has any sort of consensus understanding). Or, if it is, they've maybe lowered the bar on what the required reasoning ability might be. Or there are so many urban legends and media misrepresentations around we have no idea what is actually going on. > > So the teens accidentally get pregnant while they were misbehaving and > the pilots accidentally fly past their destination while they were > studying. Well, things happen. Any girl can 'fall' pregnant, given just a few of those confluent contributing factors. "Blessed are they that know not temptation for neither do they know the frailty of their rectitude," (or something very close to that) said Christopher Morley and I remind myself of it frequently which is to say whenever in danger of becoming too smug/judgemental. As for the pilots ... well, as I said elsewhere in this thread, usually there is a type of 'natural selection' which more or less ensures the competency of the breed but I suppose the immutable laws of chance must occasionally throw together two who have bucked the odds and if "carelessness, unawareness, ignorance ..." can be accounted within some definitions of 'accident' then certainly 'incompetence' is no barrier at all. Yes, it is all stupid and soft when people are not held accountable for their actions (what on earth is *that* doing to 'survival of the fittest'?). I suppose a fair proportion of hermits feel like that. And beyond, to their despair that it's only getting worse. People have 'always' felt like that - my favourite example being John Skelton (1460-1529) in "The Manner of the World Nowadays". That's what generations are for. But it's still wrong. From borgholio at storymind.com Tue Oct 27 13:21:32 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Tue Oct 27 13:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] New car loan Message-ID: Just got back from the credit union. My new loan is 6.75%, monthly payments are $215 and change. My old loan was 8.9% with $255 per month payments. They're also submitting a new app for a credit card at 9.9% (my current card is 15%. So...yay. From borgholio at storymind.com Tue Oct 27 13:51:28 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Tue Oct 27 13:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Borgholio wrote in > news:hc7a6n$s7p$1@news.spamcop.net: > >> Just got back from the credit union. My new loan is 6.75%, monthly >> payments are $215 and change. My old loan was 8.9% with $255 per >> month payments. They're also submitting a new app for a credit card >> at 9.9% (my current card is 15%. So...yay. >> > > Good. Your credit rating will take a minor hammering for a while but you'll > recover presumably before you go applying for any more credit! Who are > 'they'... GM? Old car loan - Ford. New car loan - local credit union. From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Tue Oct 27 18:44:24 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Tue Oct 27 18:45:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: David Dean said the following on 28/10/09 04:57: > In article, > Sylvesterthekat wrote: > >> Good luck seeing anyone for $10, unless they're unknowns. You couldn't >> pay me to go to a music festival. > > Some of my favorite shows were relative unknowns at small venues for > less than $20. The Dead Milkmen, They Might be Giants (twice), > Information Society, Sonic Youth, Live, Johnny Phoenix, Love and > Rockets, The Pet Shop Boys, The Poster Children, Modest Mouse, New Fast > Automatic Daffodils, 10000 Maniacs... Exactly. I think I paid $6 to see Sonic Youth, probably $4 to see R.E.M.. Under $10 - Nick Cave, Echo and the Bunnymen, Violent Femmes, The Cure, Swans, Husker Du, Black Flag, Butthole Surfers, Billy Bragg, The Fall, Screaming Trees, Jonathan Richman, Replacements. I can't imagine that Elvis Costello was much above $10 at the time. I guess still I don't pay more than about $15 for a lot of the things I go see. From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 27 22:18:53 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Tue Oct 27 22:20:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Mr K. Mean" wrote in message news:hc64st$fgj$1@news.spamcop.net... > > I just can't imagine going to a stadium show. (Festivals are a different > thing, 2-3 days of camping and dozens of bands, that's pretty cool. > Especially when you can get in for nothing.) I don't think I've seen a > proper stadium show, and I can't really imagine wanting to see one. I'm > not sure there is any band I like enough to pay $100+ and to sit a mile > away and see little ants moving around the stage (or watching on a video > screen, ick). I'm horrified enough that I'm paying like $50 to see the > Pixies here in March. A stadium show from the early 80's has nothing in similarity with one now. For one, the price for tix was like $30 for the all day event, and only the front half of the stadium where the bands played was occupied. I also saw Rush play in Philly around the same time at the basketball arena (the Spectrum, also now demolished), about 18,000, in nosebleed seats. Paled in comparison both audibly and in closeness to the stage of the Genesis Concert. They didn't even have video screens back in those "old days", LOL. Both concerts were very unlike the time I saw the Eagles at RFK in DC back in 1996, when the entire stadium was packed and you *had* to watch the video screens to see the stage. T hat was my last big stadium event, now I prefer to go to 1000-1500 capacity joints to hear live music, although at times the sound level is outrageously and painfully high without having an overhead outlet to escape. The Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia MD is an old with wonderful half enclosed/half picnic (grass) seating locations for concerts, I saw Duran Duran play there in 2008, a terrific concert with unbeatable acoustics. The sheltered part only holds about 4000 seats (roof coverage only), but the picnic fields can hold another 15k souls for really popular bands like Jimmy Buffet and Phish. Although Phish is now disbanded, they wouldn't be welcomed back....the last time they were here there were over 150 drug arrests..... From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 27 22:20:45 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Tue Oct 27 22:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Mr K. Mean" wrote in message news:hc7t4d$427$1@news.spamcop.net... > Exactly. I think I paid $6 to see Sonic Youth, probably $4 to see R.E.M.. > Under $10 - Nick Cave, Echo and the Bunnymen, Violent Femmes, The Cure, You only paid $10 to see the Cure? What year was that? Damn, I'd pay 5x that to see them in their prime now! From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 27 22:39:51 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Tue Oct 27 22:40:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hc7a6n$s7p$1@news.spamcop.net... > Just got back from the credit union. My new loan is 6.75%, monthly > payments are $215 and change. My old loan was 8.9% with $255 per month > payments. They're also submitting a new app for a credit card at 9.9% (my > current card is 15%. So...yay. How old is your vehicle? I'm happy that you were able to lower your payments, but I'm not so sure that you got that great a deal.....my credit union is currently offering used car loans for 2005 vehicles up to $125,000 for 63 mos. at 3.95%, and 2004 vehicles up to $125,000 for 48 mos. at 3.95%. No data available for cars older than 2004 models. As far as your CC rate of 9.9% that's great -- that's about the lowest rate you're going to find without spending more time that it's worth if you usually pay off your monthly balance. Do you get credit points or cash rebates with the card? That's a big side business for competing CC companies. With my FCU card I basically get 1 point for every dollar charged. I have my eye on a new Dirt Devil Upright Vacuum cleaner (my existing vac is ancient), and I was charging all my normal health care bills lately instead of using my debit card so I could get the new and totally free vacuum cleaner...then last month the bastards moved the price point 500 pts higher, meaning I need to charge another $500 to get enough pts. to get it. No problem with achieving that, it'll just take a bit longer.....my point is that CC companies are fighting for good credit worthy customers by offering such rebates for money charged -- they make 2-3% off of the transaction price even if you don't pay them a dime in interest. I'm going to see if I can use my FCU CC to make payments to my FCU second mortgage car loan to rack up some seriously big points in a hurry -- there's a 140 piece toolkit with my name on it waiting on my wish list ;-) From nobody at spamcop.net Tue Oct 27 23:31:42 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Tue Oct 27 23:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hc8atn$96i$1@news.spamcop.net... > > How old is your vehicle? I'm happy that you were able to lower your > payments, but I'm not so sure that you got that great a deal.....my credit > union is currently offering used car loans for 2005 vehicles up to > $125,000 for 63 mos. at 3.95%, and 2004 vehicles up to $125,000 for 48 > mos. at 3.95%. No data available for cars older than 2004 models. Who the hell is stupid enough to spend $125k on used car???? From user at domain.invalid Wed Oct 28 01:32:26 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Wed Oct 28 01:35:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Heidi wrote: > > Who the hell is stupid enough to spend $125k on used car???? > > Someone living in Needles CA who can't afford a *new* Ferrari 360 Modena and who can't travel very far to take delivery. Or was that a rhetorical question? From borgholio at storymind.com Wed Oct 28 02:47:45 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Wed Oct 28 02:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Indigo wrote: > > "Borgholio" wrote in message > news:hc7a6n$s7p$1@news.spamcop.net... >> Just got back from the credit union. My new loan is 6.75%, monthly >> payments are $215 and change. My old loan was 8.9% with $255 per >> month payments. They're also submitting a new app for a credit card >> at 9.9% (my current card is 15%. So...yay. > > How old is your vehicle? I'm happy that you were able to lower your > payments, but I'm not so sure that you got that great a deal.....my > credit union is currently offering used car loans for 2005 vehicles up > to $125,000 for 63 mos. at 3.95%, and 2004 vehicles up to $125,000 for > 48 mos. at 3.95%. No data available for cars older than 2004 models. It's a 2005 Ford Focus worth about 9k according to KBB. The reason I got a 6% (yeah it's actually 6, not 6.75...my banker made an error), is due to my debt to income ratio more than likely. > > As far as your CC rate of 9.9% that's great -- that's about the lowest > rate you're going to find without spending more time that it's worth if > you usually pay off your monthly balance. Do you get credit points or > cash rebates with the card? That's a big side business for competing CC > companies. With my FCU card I basically get 1 point for every dollar > charged. I have my eye on a new Dirt Devil Upright Vacuum cleaner (my > existing vac is ancient), and I was charging all my normal health care > bills lately instead of using my debit card so I could get the new and > totally free vacuum cleaner...then last month the bastards moved the > price point 500 pts higher, meaning I need to charge another $500 to get > enough pts. to get it. No problem with achieving that, it'll just take a > bit longer.....my point is that CC companies are fighting for good > credit worthy customers by offering such rebates for money charged -- > they make 2-3% off of the transaction price even if you don't pay them a > dime in interest. Not sure about any benefits...I mainly want the interest rate. :) > > I'm going to see if I can use my FCU CC to make payments to my FCU > second mortgage car loan to rack up some seriously big points in a hurry > -- there's a 140 piece toolkit with my name on it waiting on my wish > list ;-) heh From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Wed Oct 28 06:36:08 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Wed Oct 28 06:40:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Indigo said the following on 28/10/09 13:18: > > hat was my last big stadium event, now I prefer to go to 1000-1500 > capacity joints to hear live music, although at times the sound level is > outrageously and painfully high without having an overhead outlet to > escape. Dude, ear plugs are your friend. Even if you just half put them in, it cuts out that high frequency shriek. I used to feel a little dorky wearing them, but I notice a whole lot more people doing it lately. From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Wed Oct 28 06:46:50 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Wed Oct 28 06:50:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Indigo said the following on 28/10/09 13:20: > > "Mr K. Mean" wrote in message > news:hc7t4d$427$1@news.spamcop.net... >> Exactly. I think I paid $6 to see Sonic Youth, probably $4 to see >> R.E.M.. Under $10 - Nick Cave, Echo and the Bunnymen, Violent Femmes, >> The Cure, > > You only paid $10 to see the Cure? What year was that? Damn, I'd pay 5x > that to see them in their prime now! I can't remember the price, but I would be surprised if it was more than $10. Would have been 84 or 85 at the Rainbow Music Hall. Ok, probably 84, they were supporting their album Concert-The Cure Live. I think I saw them again at Red Rocks, probably a year or so later. Then probably at the CU Events Center around that time too. Ahh, would be this one. http://www.cure-concerts.de/concerts/1984-10-31.php Halloween, yeah, now I remember. And Red Rocks would have been: http://www.cure-concerts.de/concerts/1987-07-20.php Looks like I probably paid $14.67 to see that one. Ok, Boulder would have been $12.10 http://www.cure-concerts.de/concerts/1985-10-15.php From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 28 21:05:24 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 28 21:10:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Ping FP Message-ID: Somebody has discovered something extremely fascinating for heat pumps, but I can't find out what the "magic ingredient" is..... http://www.daikinme.com/product/residential/split/facts-heatpumps.jsp The only thing I can think of is that aybe they developed a new kind of refrigerant? Or they use two different refrigerants, one for the cooling app and one for the heating app? A heat pump that works as a heat source down to -25 C outdoor temps sounds like it breaks the laws of physics! Actually, reading that page again, this may explain it: "Daikin's air-to-air or ****air-to-water**** heat pumps use renewable energy: the heat present in ambient air. By pumping that heated air into your home, Daikin heat pumps deliver four times more heating energy than they consume / only require one unit of electricity to pump 3 to 5 times that amount of renewable energy into your homes." It is indeed against the rules of thermodynamics that you could get 3-5 times the equivalent amount of heat from one unit of electricity, so they must be using geothermal plumbing to provide the "free energy". I think that you inquired about this exact solution a few weeks ago? From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 28 22:38:55 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 28 22:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Heidi" wrote in message news:hc8dv1$a9q$1@news.spamcop.net... > > "Indigo" wrote in message > news:hc8atn$96i$1@news.spamcop.net... >> >> How old is your vehicle? I'm happy that you were able to lower your >> payments, but I'm not so sure that you got that great a deal.....my >> credit union is currently offering used car loans for 2005 vehicles up to >> $125,000 for 63 mos. at 3.95%, and 2004 vehicles up to $125,000 for 48 >> mos. at 3.95%. No data available for cars older than 2004 models. > > Who the hell is stupid enough to spend $125k on used car???? > > Someone with cash to burn and wants a toy to play with? Like a used Lambo or Bentley or such? From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 28 22:42:41 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 28 22:45:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hc8pec$e25$2@news.spamcop.net... > > It's a 2005 Ford Focus worth about 9k according to KBB. The reason I got > a 6% (yeah it's actually 6, not 6.75...my banker made an error), is due to > my debt to income ratio more than likely. > Yeah, you're probably right about that -- besides the fact that your debt/income ratio may be lousy, you don't have much in the way of a credit history to go on, so you got a higher rate than someone old(er) like me with a long (and good) credit history. From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 28 22:46:40 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 28 22:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Mr K. Mean" wrote in message news:hc96qu$ja3$1@news.spamcop.net... > Indigo said the following on 28/10/09 13:18: >> >> hat was my last big stadium event, now I prefer to go to 1000-1500 >> capacity joints to hear live music, although at times the sound level is >> outrageously and painfully high without having an overhead outlet to >> escape. > > Dude, ear plugs are your friend. Even if you just half put them in, it > cuts out that high frequency shriek. I used to feel a little dorky wearing > them, but I notice a whole lot more people doing it lately. Never occurred to me, although I wear them to bed every night to drown out the noise of the plane traffic from BWI, which is quite close to my house. Since I'm 95% deaf in my right ear, I usually take up a position to the left of the stage if I can to avoid the full decibel assault on my eardrums (my "bad ear" can still hear low frequency sounds, but that's not as painful as the mid-high range volume levels). From nobody at spamcop.net Wed Oct 28 22:47:43 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Wed Oct 28 22:50:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: crazy things In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CB27251C5E64TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > No way it was me! It was Sylvesterthekat ! > >> so how did it go? > > I learned a lot about her and about myself. Some disturbing things both > ways, I suppose. Now it's prolly time to get some pro help, you know? Don't forget what I wrote about earlier about seeking pro help..... From borgholio at storymind.com Wed Oct 28 23:04:51 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Wed Oct 28 23:05:10 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Indigo wrote: > > "Borgholio" wrote in message > news:hc8pec$e25$2@news.spamcop.net... >> >> It's a 2005 Ford Focus worth about 9k according to KBB. The reason I >> got a 6% (yeah it's actually 6, not 6.75...my banker made an error), >> is due to my debt to income ratio more than likely. >> > > Yeah, you're probably right about that -- besides the fact that your > debt/income ratio may be lousy, you don't have much in the way of a > credit history to go on, so you got a higher rate than someone old(er) > like me with a long (and good) credit history. Yep, still good though...saving about $42 per month and saving nearly $300 total over the life of the loan. Plus there's still the 9.9% credit card they're looking into for me. From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 29 14:10:39 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 29 14:25:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Ping FP References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hcapok$66k$1@news.spamcop.net... : Somebody has discovered something extremely fascinating for heat pumps, but : I can't find out what the "magic ingredient" is..... : : http://www.daikinme.com/product/residential/split/facts-heatpumps.jsp : : The only thing I can think of is that aybe they developed a new kind of : refrigerant? Or they use two different refrigerants, one for the cooling app : and one for the heating app? A heat pump that works as a heat source down : to -25 C outdoor temps sounds like it breaks the laws of physics! : : Actually, reading that page again, this may explain it: : : "Daikin's air-to-air or ****air-to-water**** heat pumps use renewable : energy: the heat present in ambient air. : : By pumping that heated air into your home, Daikin heat pumps deliver four : times more heating energy than they consume / only require one unit of : electricity to pump 3 to 5 times that amount of renewable energy into your : homes." : : It is indeed against the rules of thermodynamics that you could get 3-5 : times the equivalent amount of heat from one unit of electricity, so they : must be using geothermal plumbing to provide the "free energy". I think that : you inquired about this exact solution a few weeks ago? I've not looked into the technology they are using but my first guess is it's a hybrid absorption unit. It's been done before and works but the process (in the distant past) had mechanical problems related to availability of the right materials at a price that made economic sense. BTW a heat pump can push heat "up hill" with a 3 to 1 gain provided all the parameters are correct. Recall even the waste heat of motivation is also dumped into the room. From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 29 14:14:57 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 29 14:25:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CB360CF19404TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : It wasn't me! It was Sylvesterthekat ! : > "Mr K. Mean" wrote in news:hc96qu$ja3$1 : > @news.spamcop.net: : > : >> Dude, ear plugs are your friend. Even if you just half put them in, it : >> cuts out that high frequency shriek. I used to feel a little dorky : >> wearing them, but I notice a whole lot more people doing it lately. : > : > Why can't they just turn the music DOWN a little? It's insane. : : It is insane. But, hey, I do the earplug thing, too. And if we forget to : take them I can always buy more at the desk (from the cookie ladies) for a : buck. I don't recall music as having been so loud when I was younger... : They probably didn't have the technology, then... It was but you likely didn't notice. I made sure my kids had ear protection both when they performed and when they were in the audience. Thankfully they headed my advise. Some of their friends didn't and most of them can't hear much over 3KHz. From borgholio at storymind.com Thu Oct 29 15:52:25 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Thu Oct 29 15:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Windows 7 Whopper Message-ID: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/business/2009/10/23/lah.japan.whopper.microsoft.cnn From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Thu Oct 29 16:03:30 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Thu Oct 29 16:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles said the following on 30/10/09 00:31: > It wasn't me! It was Sylvesterthekat! >> "Mr K. Mean" wrote in news:hc96qu$ja3$1 >> @news.spamcop.net: >> >>> Dude, ear plugs are your friend. Even if you just half put them in, it >>> cuts out that high frequency shriek. I used to feel a little dorky >>> wearing them, but I notice a whole lot more people doing it lately. >> >> Why can't they just turn the music DOWN a little? It's insane. > > It is insane. But, hey, I do the earplug thing, too. And if we forget to > take them I can always buy more at the desk (from the cookie ladies) for a > buck. I don't recall music as having been so loud when I was younger... > They probably didn't have the technology, then... Are you kidding? I think the loudest shows I've been to were years ago where my ears were ringing afterwards. I think the smaller the show, the louder it tended to be. Minus Bill in the basement of Jerry's Records, they just had the two PA speakers they brought themselves, but damn was it loud. I can't think of a show I've seen in recent years that was as loud as a lot of those, even the ones I've forgotten to take earplugs. But maybe I have some hearing loss, so nothing is quite as loud anymore. From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Thu Oct 29 16:04:46 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Thu Oct 29 16:05:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat said the following on 30/10/09 00:12: > > I agree that the small enclosed venues are often way too loud, I don't know > why they do that? We saw Duran Duran at The House of Blues on Sunset a few > years ago which was great. Also Tom Jones on NYE at the same location, he > was very good. We saw Neil Diamond (hubby is a fan) at the Hollywood Bowl > last year and that was great, even though I didn't know most of the songs. > We were reasonably close to the stage. Tom Jones, cool. Did you get carried away and throw anything up on the stage? From borgholio at storymind.com Thu Oct 29 16:08:22 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Thu Oct 29 16:10:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Windows 7 Whopper In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Borgholio wrote in > news:hccrpf$qrc$1@news.spamcop.net: > >> http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/business/2009/10/23/lah.japan.whopper. >> microsoft.cnn > > that's gross. i saw a pic of it the other day and wondered who could get > their mouth around it. 2120 calories! I'd eat it. :) From fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com Thu Oct 29 16:16:21 2009 From: fiyntyd02 at sneakemail.com (Mr K. Mean) Date: Thu Oct 29 16:20:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: crazy things In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat said the following on 30/10/09 06:55: > Charles wrote in > news:Xns9CB36839C3749TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61: > >> Europe is different. Has it changed? Yup. Autoroutes are more >> expensive and now they have speed cameras! You can't get a SIM card >> at the airport (???) but you can get a pay-as-you-go Internet dongle >> (which you can't get here). > > hum, i'd have thought you could buy a simcard anywhere. maybe buy a > disposable phone and remove the sim? I found that around the world, you always had to show your passport to buy a SIM card. The reasoning being, SIM cards can be used to make timers to blow up bomb, blah blah blah. Stupid reason since I have to imagine it is completely impossible to come up with any other way to make a timer to set off a bomb. (Flash to clips of old movies with a gigantic ticking alarm clock on top of a bomb.) >> Prices in local money of many things have dropped. 1500E for a 3 br, >> 2 ba flat in Paris? WTF? A new Twingo for< 7KE? Wow. Serious. At >> the same time cheese prices have gone through the roof - insanely >> expensive and all... Cheese price hyper-inflation, and the French haven't been rioting in the streets? > I wonder why the wild price fluctuations. i know in the uk the price of > some things is much less than it used to be, eg CDs, DVDs and food is > generally cheaper than here in LA but most everything else is stupid > expensive (except cell phone service which is way better value than here) Didn't Tescos pretty much ruin the food market in the UK, much like Wal-mart has ruined the retail market in the US. It seems like food prices in Australia are a bit higher than they seemed in the UK. From borgholio at storymind.com Thu Oct 29 16:39:27 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Thu Oct 29 16:40:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: if you want to waste hours... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > It wasn't me! It was Sylvesterthekat ! > >> there are just too many priceless ones to mention. > > But the site was coded by blind pigs! Good grief! Anybody else notice how many random popups there are if your mouse pointer wanders off of any of the pictures? Somewhat annoying... From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 29 17:37:41 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 29 17:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Windows 7 Whopper References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hccrpf$qrc$1@news.spamcop.net... : http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/business/2009/10/23/lah.japan.whopper.microsoft.cnn I showed it to my grand daughters and one quipped 'is that a modern version of 'loaves and fishes'? We had the daughter of one of our Japanese friends visit the US years ago and took her to a steak house. As a joke I ordered her the biggest steak on the menu. the young lady (could not have been 95# soaking wet) ate it all and seemed to be ready for more. From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 29 18:50:14 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Thu Oct 29 18:55:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CB341F2CBDE1sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > "Mr K. Mean" wrote in news:hc96qu$ja3$1 > @news.spamcop.net: > >> Dude, ear plugs are your friend. Even if you just half put them in, it >> cuts out that high frequency shriek. I used to feel a little dorky >> wearing them, but I notice a whole lot more people doing it lately. >> > > Why can't they just turn the music DOWN a little? It's insane. Good grief, I think *movies* are too loud now - I can't get out of there fast enough when they start blasting the damn commercials, which also piss me off. And which is probably why I haven't been to a movie in years! From nobody at spamcop.net Thu Oct 29 20:51:54 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Thu Oct 29 20:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Ping FP In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Frog Prince" wrote in message news:hccmei$s3r$1@news.spamcop.net... > BTW a heat pump can push heat "up hill" with a 3 to 1 gain provided all > the > parameters are correct. Huh? There's no free lunch.....explain please. Recall even the waste heat of motivation is also > dumped into the room. > What "waste heat of motivation" are you referring to? Never heard that term before. From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 29 21:17:51 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Thu Oct 29 21:20:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Ping FP References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hcddba$4ru$1@news.spamcop.net... : : "Frog Prince" wrote in message : news:hccmei$s3r$1@news.spamcop.net... : > BTW a heat pump can push heat "up hill" with a 3 to 1 gain provided all : > the parameters are correct. : : Huh? There's no free lunch.....explain please. All the energy forcing the heat up hill plus all the energy consumed by the hardware in moving the heat up stream. (there is some minor leakage out of the plumbing but not much.) : Recall even the waste heat of motivation is also dumped into the room. : > : : What "waste heat of motivation" are you referring to? Never heard that term : before. AKA driving force. From dfmanno at mail.com Thu Oct 29 21:27:24 2009 From: dfmanno at mail.com (D.F. Manno) Date: Thu Oct 29 21:30:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Windows 7 Whopper References: Message-ID: In article , Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Borgholio wrote: > > > http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/business/2009/10/23/lah.japan.whopper.microsoft.cnn > > that's gross. i saw a pic of it the other day and wondered who could get > their mouth around it. 2120 calories! Hard to tell which is the better value. -- D.F. Manno | dfmanno@mail.com "Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits." (Dan Barker, former preacher, musician, b. 1949) From dfmanno at mail.com Thu Oct 29 21:28:36 2009 From: dfmanno at mail.com (D.F. Manno) Date: Thu Oct 29 21:30:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: anyone have a kindle? References: Message-ID: In article , Sylvesterthekat wrote: > http://www.amazon.com/Pride-and-Prejudice/dp/B000JMLFLW > their prices for classic lit are awesome (ie free!) > > i didn't realise that it used GSM, I thought it was wifi. i'd like to see > one in the flesh, to see if i could get on with it/how much light it > casts/if it makes your eyes tired etc. > > http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015T963C And they can take back your books any time they want to. -- D.F. Manno | dfmanno@mail.com "Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits." (Dan Barker, former preacher, musician, b. 1949) From borgholio at storymind.com Thu Oct 29 21:55:23 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Thu Oct 29 22:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] On switching from Windows to Mac Message-ID: So my neighbor got a Mac Mini and I played around with it a bit. Seems like it's really easy to use and easy on the eyes. However, my current XP system does everything I need it to and it's pretty stable. So there's really no reason for me to up and buy a Mac. On the other hand, XP is slowly being phased out so either I have to shell out for bloatware like Vista or Windows 7...or get a Mac. Decisions, decisions... From borgholio at storymind.com Thu Oct 29 22:01:35 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Thu Oct 29 22:05:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: On switching from Windows to Mac In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Borgholio wrote: > So my neighbor got a Mac Mini and I played around with it a bit. Seems > like it's really easy to use and easy on the eyes. However, my current > XP system does everything I need it to and it's pretty stable. So > there's really no reason for me to up and buy a Mac. On the other hand, > XP is slowly being phased out so either I have to shell out for > bloatware like Vista or Windows 7...or get a Mac. Decisions, decisions... Hmm, this belongs in .geeks. Oh well... From joegill at removethis Thu Oct 29 22:09:55 2009 From: joegill at removethis (Joe Gill) Date: Thu Oct 29 22:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: On switching from Windows to Mac In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hcdh20$659$1@news.spamcop.net... > So my neighbor got a Mac Mini and I played around with it a bit. Seems > like it's really easy to use and easy on the eyes. However, my current XP > system does everything I need it to and it's pretty stable. So there's > really no reason for me to up and buy a Mac. On the other hand, XP is > slowly being phased out so either I have to shell out for bloatware like > Vista or Windows 7...or get a Mac. Decisions, decisions... >From my perspective... hardware is hardware... That is you need to get the cheapest piece of hardware that meets your needs and then slap an operating system on it, to get the total cost.! I think the order is .... Linux Windows MAC/OS The problem is APPLE will not allow their O/S on any hardware combination, other than what they specifiy! It would be great, if APPLE would unbundle, and we could have a TRUE horse race between Windows and MAC OS I know you and others call Windows 'bloatware', but I will take Windows on and Intel box, as it delivers the cheapest computing. That said, MAC OS does offer on distinct, albeit minor performance boost. MAC OS is able to 'switch tasks' with far less overhead than Windows, (although I have not heard if Win7 addressed the issue! Since the 'next generation' MACs will be Intel chip based, it would seem that we should be able to have a 'run-off'.... but alas, Jobs probably won't allow that! From me at privacy.net Thu Oct 29 22:43:13 2009 From: me at privacy.net (anon) Date: Thu Oct 29 22:45:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hcb0ob$v1d$1@news.spamcop.net... > Indigo wrote: >> >> "Borgholio" wrote in message >> news:hc8pec$e25$2@news.spamcop.net... >>> >>> It's a 2005 Ford Focus worth about 9k according to KBB. The reason I >>> got a 6% (yeah it's actually 6, not 6.75...my banker made an error), is >>> due to my debt to income ratio more than likely. >>> >> >> Yeah, you're probably right about that -- besides the fact that your >> debt/income ratio may be lousy, you don't have much in the way of a >> credit history to go on, so you got a higher rate than someone old(er) >> like me with a long (and good) credit history. > > Yep, still good though...saving about $42 per month and saving nearly $300 > total over the life of the loan. Plus there's still the 9.9% credit card > they're looking into for me. My Wells Fargo bank called and asked whether we wanted to renegotiate our home equity loan. We are due to pay it off by Jan or Feb. She said by changing from a regular to an ARM we could save around $150 a month with no cost for the re-negotiation. Even with only five or six months left, that still is great. Later another loan officer at WF called and said we could lower our interest payments about $250 per month on our home loan with the new interest rate about 1.5% lower than the old one - pay off the charges in about ten-eleven months. Seems funny that WF would offer to decrease our interest payments but they did BTW our FICO is around 830 - maybe that had something to do with it. From borgholio at storymind.com Thu Oct 29 22:44:47 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Thu Oct 29 22:45:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: anon wrote: > > BTW our FICO is around 830 - maybe that had something to do with it. My score is 680-ish due to the old car loan. It was 735 beforehand. It'll go up again...but 830...nice. From user at domain.invalid Thu Oct 29 22:49:48 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Thu Oct 29 22:50:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: if you want to waste hours... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Charles wrote: > No way it was me! It was Borgholio ! >> Charles wrote: > >>> But the site was coded by blind pigs! Good grief! >> Anybody else notice how many random popups there are if your mouse >> pointer wanders off of any of the pictures? Somewhat annoying... Pretty much blocked by my main browser - and that's the one that's not especially secure. You probably need to tighten yours up. Apart from annoyance there might be exploits that can use the pop-up 'feature'. Or I might be a little bit paranoid. > > I have all of that stuff blocked by my browser. So no, I didn't see any of > that. But the site SUX. It really was coded by idiots - completely > unusable. What are you ever going to do when you run out of superlatives Charles? You might need them some day. Conservation is the trick. The important thing is where can I get t-shirts like those? I have the belly already. And I might want to get arrested one day. No constitutional "freedom of speech" here (yet somehow we limp on). From user at domain.invalid Fri Oct 30 01:12:02 2009 From: user at domain.invalid (Farelf) Date: Fri Oct 30 01:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: if you want to waste hours... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > http://www.peopleofwalmart.com > Coincidentally, this one was presented as a huge waste of time over at news.grc.com (thanks Bilbo): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9h1QTXISmY But that would have been tongue-in-cheek. But not, it seems, for some of the YT commentators. How do you stay sane in a leisured society with no sense of whimsy? Maybe not a high-survival value attribute back in the days of hand-to-mouth existence, but now? Ah, who cares? Enjoy. Or not. From dfmanno at mail.com Fri Oct 30 12:54:52 2009 From: dfmanno at mail.com (D.F. Manno) Date: Fri Oct 30 12:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: anyone have a kindle? References: Message-ID: In article , Charles wrote: > No way it was me! It was "D.F. Manno" ! > > > And they can take back your books any time they want to. > > Tsk. They lost that fight, no? I fully agree that they're part of the > evil empire and yet you can't vilify them worse than they really are. No. They haven't changed their DRM, have they? They reserve the right to delete books to "protect the Kindle's operation." Loophole, meet Mack truck. -- D.F. Manno | dfmanno@mail.com "Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits." (Dan Barker, former preacher, musician, b. 1949) From dfmanno at mail.com Fri Oct 30 12:58:18 2009 From: dfmanno at mail.com (D.F. Manno) Date: Fri Oct 30 13:00:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: On switching from Windows to Mac References: Message-ID: In article , "Joe Gill" wrote: > The problem is APPLE will not allow their O/S on any hardware combination, > other than what they specifiy! > > It would be great, if APPLE would unbundle, and we could have a TRUE horse > race between Windows and MAC OS > > I know you and others call Windows 'bloatware', but I will take Windows on > and Intel box, as it delivers the cheapest computing. > > That said, MAC OS does offer on distinct, albeit minor performance boost. > MAC OS is able to 'switch tasks' with far less overhead than Windows, > (although I have not heard if Win7 addressed the issue! > > Since the 'next generation' MACs will be Intel chip based, it would seem > that we should be able to have a 'run-off'.... but alas, Jobs probably won't > allow that! Why should he? The day Apple releases OS X for the PC is the beginning of the end for Apple. Why would anybody buy a Mac if they can just slap the OS on a $300 piece of junk from WalMart? Apple is a hardware company. They sell OS X to drive sales of their computers. -- D.F. Manno | dfmanno@mail.com "Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits." (Dan Barker, former preacher, musician, b. 1949) From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 16:19:30 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Fri Oct 30 16:20:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Ping FP In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Frog Prince" wrote in message news:hcdert$5ci$1@news.spamcop.net... > : What "waste heat of motivation" are you referring to? Never heard that > term > : before. > > AKA driving force. > Well, if they had a system to recover waste heat generated by the compressor and any other motors, that would go a long way towards improving efficiency to a very high level. Heck, that's what I used to do for a living at one time of my career, I _know_ I could design some heat transfer devices to take that wasted resistive heat and move it into the air flow for recovery via a heat exchanger. The problem would be "turning them off" during the cooling phase......that also can be accomplished with a bit more engineering, but the expense might not be worth it. A thermal "switch" can be a very complicated (read $$$) device to build. Although my old company was developing a very promising one for cryogenic apps when I left, going in a completely different direction from previous thermal switch designs (usually gas gap switches with crappy thermal conductivity values). From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 30 17:11:35 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 30 17:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: On switching from Windows to Mac In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > "Joe Gill" wrote in > news:hcdhtk$6jm$1@news.spamcop.net: > > Well in theory you could run Windows on a Mac but whether MAC OS would run > on a PC is another matter. Most Macs for the last few years have had Intel chips...it's nothing new anymore. My neighbor runs XP in a virtual box on Mac and it works very well due to the Intel CPU. He showed me to a website where someone actually did get a copy of OSX running on PC hardware, but it was flipping expensive. > > Mac hardware is so expensive, that's what would put me off. Might be best > if Borg buys a refurb to see if he could get along with it. You can get > some good deals if you hunt around. Yeah I'm looking at refurbs, but they're still more expensive than building or buying a new PC. From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 19:06:26 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Fri Oct 30 19:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 40 sucks References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CB486A6EC84Csylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > Charles wrote in > news:Xns9CB45AC119403TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61: > >> Turning 40 was nothing. No big deal. Just another shitty day in >> paradise, as they say. But the year is really bringing me down. 7 >> weeks now of one big steaming pile after another. Bummer. >> > > Not to worry, this year is almost over. Start fresh next year and hope for > better. That's what I said last year, remember? I've had more than 7 weeks of one big steaming pile, more like a couple of years. Hopefully like all things it's cyclical, and things will smooth out for a while. I feel for Charles...BTDT From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 19:07:30 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Fri Oct 30 19:10:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Mmm...Pumpkinhead Ale Message-ID: Happy Halloween....... ;) From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 30 19:24:01 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 30 19:35:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: if you want to waste hours... References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CB45A84D1612TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : It wasn't me! It was Farelf ! : : > What are you ever going to do when you run out of superlatives Charles? : : I'm holding the big superlative in reserve for now. Just remember to flush twice ... it's a long way to Washington. From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 30 19:31:49 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 30 19:35:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Ping FP References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hcfhoi$tq6$1@news.spamcop.net... : : "Frog Prince" wrote in message : news:hcdert$5ci$1@news.spamcop.net... : > : What "waste heat of motivation" are you referring to? Never heard that : > term before. : > : > AKA driving force. : > : : Well, if they had a system to recover waste heat generated by the compressor : and any other motors, that would go a long way towards improving efficiency : to a very high level. Heck, that's what I used to do for a living at one : time of my career, I _know_ I could design some heat transfer devices to : take that wasted resistive heat and move it into the air flow for recovery : via a heat exchanger. : : The problem would be "turning them off" during the cooling phase......that : also can be accomplished with a bit more engineering, but the expense might : not be worth it. A thermal "switch" can be a very complicated (read $$$) : device to build. Although my old company was developing a very promising one : for cryogenic apps when I left, going in a completely different direction : from previous thermal switch designs (usually gas gap switches with crappy : thermal conductivity values). Why bother turning them off? Design the dump a bit bigger and you just transfer the cooling function (aka excess heat) to a common sink. I recall something we did for NASA waaaaay back when (1B I think). Our design cost $ and was X efficient the other groups design cost $$$$$$$ and was X+1% efficient. Interesting aside when the devices were tested our's worked better not to mention having a much lower mass. From MikeE at ster.invalid Fri Oct 30 19:35:24 2009 From: MikeE at ster.invalid (Mike Easter) Date: Fri Oct 30 19:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Mmm...Pumpkinhead Ale References: Message-ID: Heidi wrote: > Happy Halloween....... ;) Label pic http://snipr.com/sy063 Wiki on Shipyard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipyard_Brewing_Company Spiced ales :-/ A tip of my Heineken to the pumpkinhead drinkers. It's Hallowe'en morning in such as .au & .nz. so I guess we'd better start celebrating. -- Mike Easter kibitzer, not SC admin From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 19:52:24 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Fri Oct 30 19:55:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Mmm...Pumpkinhead Ale References: Message-ID: "Mike Easter" wrote in message news:hcft7v$2bo$1@news.spamcop.net... > > Label pic http://snipr.com/sy063 Isn't it awesome? I buy beer (and wine) like a girl - because the label is pretty. Hasn't steered me wrong yet! > > Wiki on Shipyard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipyard_Brewing_Company > > Spiced ales :-/ It's not that spiced, or at least I don't taste any, it tastes like pumpkin, that's the aftertaste it leaves you with, not sweet by any means. I like it alot better than Smutty Pumpkin ale, which is good but this has more complex flavor. > > A tip of my Heineken to the pumpkinhead drinkers. > > It's Hallowe'en morning in such as .au & .nz. so I guess we'd better > start celebrating. > Its Friday of a very long, hard week, that's why *I'm* celebrating... From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 20:10:52 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Heidi) Date: Fri Oct 30 20:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: 40 sucks References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CB4ADC5017A7sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > "Heidi" wrote in > news:hcfrhl$1n1$1@news.spamcop.net: > >> That's what I said last year, remember? I've had more than 7 weeks of >> one big steaming pile, more like a couple of years. Hopefully like >> all things it's cyclical, and things will smooth out for a while. I >> feel for Charles...BTDT >> > > Yes indeed. Well after what you've been through this year, next year can > ONLY get better, can't it?! THAT'S what I said last year! =:o From dfmanno at mail.com Fri Oct 30 21:39:27 2009 From: dfmanno at mail.com (D.F. Manno) Date: Fri Oct 30 21:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: On switching from Windows to Mac References: Message-ID: In article , Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Borgholio wrote: > > > Yeah I'm looking at refurbs, but they're still more expensive than > > building or buying a new PC. > > Are they upgradeable at all too? It seems like they're rather like some PCs > (Gateway and Dell come to mind) that have bespoke parts and you can't just > whack any old hdd or graphics card in there. Only the iMac and the Mac Mini, mainly because so much is crammed into very little space. -- D.F. Manno | dfmanno@mail.com "Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits." (Dan Barker, former preacher, musician, b. 1949) From dfmanno at mail.com Fri Oct 30 21:40:27 2009 From: dfmanno at mail.com (D.F. Manno) Date: Fri Oct 30 21:45:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Windows 7 Whopper References: Message-ID: In article , Sylvesterthekat wrote: > D.F. Manno wrote: > > > Hard to tell which is the better value. > > Between what and what? Between Windows 7 and the Whopper. -- D.F. Manno | dfmanno@mail.com "Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits." (Dan Barker, former preacher, musician, b. 1949) From dfmanno at mail.com Fri Oct 30 21:43:13 2009 From: dfmanno at mail.com (D.F. Manno) Date: Fri Oct 30 21:45:10 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Funeral Webcasting Is Alive and Well References: Message-ID: In article , "Frog Prince" wrote: > http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/innovation/funeral-webcasting-is-alive-and-well If anybody wants to see my funeral, they're going to have to show up for it in person. -- D.F. Manno | dfmanno@mail.com "Faith is a cop-out. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits." (Dan Barker, former preacher, musician, b. 1949) From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 30 22:24:53 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 30 22:30:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Funeral Webcasting Is Alive and Well References: Message-ID: "D.F. Manno" wrote in message news:dfmanno-6ECB5E.21431330102009@news.cesmail.net... : In article , : "Frog Prince" wrote: : : > http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/innovation/funeral-webcasting-is-alive-and-well : : If anybody wants to see my funeral, they're going to have to show up for : it in person. : So you're planning a pay for view? From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 30 22:25:58 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 30 22:30:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Windows 7 Whopper References: Message-ID: "D.F. Manno" wrote in message news:dfmanno-88EF92.21402730102009@news.cesmail.net... : In article , : Sylvesterthekat wrote: : : > D.F. Manno wrote: : > : > > Hard to tell which is the better value. : > : > Between what and what? : : Between Windows 7 and the Whopper. : They must feed you some really crappy beef. From me at privacy.net Fri Oct 30 22:33:19 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Fri Oct 30 22:40:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: On switching from Windows to Mac References: Message-ID: "David Dean" wrote in message news:v8ltfuv02-25D82A.17152930102009@killface.local... : In article , : Sylvesterthekat wrote: : : > Are they upgradeable at all too? It seems like they're rather like some PCs : > (Gateway and Dell come to mind) that have bespoke parts and you can't just : > whack any old hdd or graphics card in there. : : They use normal parts. Some models are more difficult to upgrade than : others, and some have onboard video and no slots. I replaced my : macbook's HD with a 320GB 7200RPM drive and upgraded the RAM to 3GB with : off the shelf parts, but I couldn't put in a video card. My last full : size mac desktop had AGP and PCI slots and I upgraded it several times. : I also have a mini which I could upgrade, but that would be much more : difficult. (and also be restricted to HD & RAM) My wife runs her design studios on Mac. Expensive but rarely quits and even rarer to have problems. She's trained on both PC and Mac and the associated software as is my youngest daughter. They do fine on Mac and are constantly complaining about what they're about on PC of any flavor. They bill out big bucks so if they lose a days work it cuts deep into the bottom line. From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 30 22:56:18 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 30 23:00:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: On switching from Windows to Mac In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Sylvesterthekat wrote: > Borgholio wrote in > news:hcfkpq$urg$2@news.spamcop.net: > >> Yeah I'm looking at refurbs, but they're still more expensive than >> building or buying a new PC. >> > > Are they upgradeable at all too? It seems like they're rather like some PCs > (Gateway and Dell come to mind) that have bespoke parts and you can't just > whack any old hdd or graphics card in there. Somewhat upgradable...the Mac Minis are pretty much sealed. From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 23:10:50 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Fri Oct 30 23:15:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Windows 7 Whopper In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hccrpf$qrc$1@news.spamcop.net... > http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/business/2009/10/23/lah.japan.whopper.microsoft.cnn Nothing there now that involves food, just shows an elementary school welcoming home a Marine....... From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 23:16:54 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Fri Oct 30 23:20:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Ping FP In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Frog Prince" wrote in message news:hcft17$2ao$2@news.spamcop.net... > Why bother turning them off? Design the dump a bit bigger and you just > transfer the cooling function (aka excess heat) to a common sink. You don't want the waste heat from the motors going into the coolant, it would reduce the cooling efficiency. Adding it for heating purposes increases heating efficiency. > > I recall something we did for NASA waaaaay back when (1B I think). Our > design cost $ and was X efficient the other groups design cost $$$$$$$ and > was X+1% efficient.\ You mean HST servicing mission 1B? Dunno if such a mission actually occurred off the top of my head.....SM1 certainly happened....surprised you were still active (meaning working) at the time. What exactly did you build? From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 23:21:57 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Fri Oct 30 23:25:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Gosh darnit! Message-ID: Windows Mail has recently been acting strangely, it's not downloading all new messages even though I have the synch settings set to do just that. No twiddling with the settings has worked so far. For instance, I just got done reading/marking all the posts displayed on my screen as read, switched to .geeks, came back to .social, and next to the spamcop.social link in the left hand column of WinMail it showed 30 unread messages, but my screen was blank (I have it set to hide read messages). Anyone have a clue what might be causing this issue? And NO SUGGESTIONS TO SWITCH NEWSREADERS WILL BE WELCOMED! This just started happening, something changed in my account settings but I can't figure out what. From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 23:25:33 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Fri Oct 30 23:30:07 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Borgholio" wrote in message news:hcb0ob$v1d$1@news.spamcop.net... > Yep, still good though...saving about $42 per month and saving nearly $300 > total over the life of the loan. Plus there's still the 9.9% credit card > they're looking into for me. If you can get the 9.9% CC, grab it! Make sure it's not variably dependent on any credit criteria like the fed loan rate. My best CC rate is a fixed 9.9%, I've had the card since 1990. Not that it matters much these days, since for years I've been able to pay the balance off every month (once I escaped from my ex-marriage, that is ;-) From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 23:26:58 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Fri Oct 30 23:30:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: crazy things In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Charles" wrote in message news:Xns9CB34FD325E48TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... > It wasn't me! It was "Indigo" ! > >> Don't forget what I wrote about earlier about seeking pro help..... > > Which was that it's better to sing and dance than to merely sing? I got a > lot of different views on this person in a very short period of time. Which likely confused your feelings over her death even more.......still recommend pro help of some kind.....whatever you're comfortable with. From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 23:36:16 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Fri Oct 30 23:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: crazy things In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CB34225AED8Bsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > Charles wrote in > news:Xns9CB27251C5E64TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61: > >> I learned a lot about her and about myself. Some disturbing things both >> ways, I suppose. Now it's prolly time to get some pro help, you know? >> > > Really, that bad? Well if you feel you need it I guess you should, S-kat, if he's reached the point where he feels he may need some pro help he should be encouraged, not questioned whether "is it really so bad that you can't deal with it?" Admitting that "I'm having a problem dealing with this" is THE most important step towards healing the long time wounds and feelings about the old relationship. I wish I would have sought help after my mother died, I know that would have benefited my relationships with my family and members of the opposite sex.....but the past is the past, live and learn, and try to help others to not suffer the way you did. That applies to all the medical problems/surgeries I've had too, when I hear friends complaining of certain symptoms I'm quick to jump in and offer advice so they can avoid suffering severe injuries like I did because I didn't know what the warning signs meant at the time. From borgholio at storymind.com Fri Oct 30 23:39:53 2009 From: borgholio at storymind.com (Borgholio) Date: Fri Oct 30 23:40:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: New car loan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Indigo wrote: > > "Borgholio" wrote in message > news:hcb0ob$v1d$1@news.spamcop.net... >> Yep, still good though...saving about $42 per month and saving nearly >> $300 total over the life of the loan. Plus there's still the 9.9% >> credit card they're looking into for me. > > If you can get the 9.9% CC, grab it! Make sure it's not variably > dependent on any credit criteria like the fed loan rate. My best CC rate > is a fixed 9.9%, I've had the card since 1990. Not that it matters much > these days, since for years I've been able to pay the balance off every > month (once I escaped from my ex-marriage, that is ;-) Just got a call a few hours ago from my loan agent, I was approved for the card. So I'll be doing a balance transfer from my old 14% card on Wednesday. From nobody at spamcop.net Fri Oct 30 23:45:02 2009 From: nobody at spamcop.net (Indigo) Date: Fri Oct 30 23:45:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: why i'm hoarse (and up late!) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message news:Xns9CB487C9F727sylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... > "Heidi" wrote in > news:hcd67b$25c$1@news.spamcop.net: > > >> Good grief, I think *movies* are too loud now - I can't get out of >> there fast enough when they start blasting the damn commercials, which >> also piss me off. And which is probably why I haven't been to a m >> movie in years! >> >> >> > > I don't find movies too loud. Now TV commercials are way louder than the > show they're sandwiched in between. Especially on Fox. I agree with that totally. I usually wish that the theater operators would turn up the volume because at times I have trouble hearing what's being said on screen, but then they end up overwhelming the sound in the adjacent theaters (damn 20 screen multiplexes with insufficient sound deadening materials in the walls are to blame for that). Lately, I've been having terrible problems with my Comcast digital cable sound volumes, it varies so much from channel to channel that I'm constantly having to adjust the volume via the remote control, which is a royal PITA when channel surfing, or watching 2 different games with my PIP function. It's probably because the signal strength for different channels varies, although I don't have proof of that, but it's the only thing I can think of that would cause the issue. From joegill at removethis Sat Oct 31 00:25:06 2009 From: joegill at removethis (Joe Gill) Date: Sat Oct 31 00:30:09 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Gosh darnit! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hcgagl$74d$1@news.spamcop.net... > Windows Mail has recently been acting strangely, it's not downloading all > new messages even though I have the synch settings set to do just that. No > twiddling with the settings has worked so far. For instance, I just got > done reading/marking all the posts displayed on my screen as read, > switched to .geeks, came back to .social, and next to the spamcop.social > link in the left hand column of WinMail it showed 30 unread messages, but > my screen was blank (I have it set to hide read messages). > > Anyone have a clue what might be causing this issue? And NO SUGGESTIONS TO > SWITCH NEWSREADERS WILL BE WELCOMED! This just started happening, > something changed in my account settings but I can't figure out what. Use the RESET on "Local File" tab on Properties. Then Click apply. That should clean things up! But alas all message will show as UNREAD, but you can fix that. From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 31 00:33:02 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 31 00:40:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: Ping FP References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hcga75$6v8$1@news.spamcop.net... : : "Frog Prince" wrote in message : news:hcft17$2ao$2@news.spamcop.net... : > Why bother turning them off? Design the dump a bit bigger and you just : > transfer the cooling function (aka excess heat) to a common sink. : : You don't want the waste heat from the motors going into the coolant, it : would reduce the cooling efficiency. Adding it for heating purposes : increases heating efficiency. Processing cost of handling house keeping heat can exceed the load of extra heat. BTW every HVAC compressor in use in the home market does this and has for years. : : > : > I recall something we did for NASA waaaaay back when (1B I think). Our : > design cost $ and was X efficient the other groups design cost $$$$$$$ and : > was X+1% efficient.\ : : You mean HST servicing mission 1B? Dunno if such a mission actually occurred : off the top of my head.....SM1 certainly happened....surprised you were : still active (meaning working) at the time. What exactly did you build? : Don't know which of many missions our works was used for only that in this case it went into the Saturn 1B Frankly it was so long ago I doubt I'd recognize the work if it fell on my head. As I recall we had a data/pulse converter and some electrical power systems under contract. An aside I accompanied my kids school on a trip to Disney and we stopped by the KSC for a visit. One of my old contacts with NASA happened to be in the visitor center. (I think he was there with his kids' school out of Houston) Guy was cool (he recognized me -- I had no clue who he was until he spoke up) managed to get the kids the VIP visit and off handedly mentioned to my kids and their friends 'your dad did some nice design work on that rocket" pointing to one of the biggest outside the visitor center. Mostly B* so this tar baby made light of the comment but did keep his mouth shut. Not sure what impressed the kids more the VIP treatment or 'designing the rocket'. Did win some points with their school's physics department. Music department was down to micro-give-a-sh|t. From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 31 01:07:02 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 31 01:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: crazy things References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hcgaq2$756$1@news.spamcop.net... : : "Charles" wrote in message : news:Xns9CB34FD325E48TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61... : > It wasn't me! It was "Indigo" ! : > : >> Don't forget what I wrote about earlier about seeking pro help..... : > : > Which was that it's better to sing and dance than to merely sing? I got a : > lot of different views on this person in a very short period of time. : : Which likely confused your feelings over her death even more.......still : recommend pro help of some kind.....whatever you're comfortable with. Charles, take the time and the effort to protect YOU right now. There is nothing you can do your ex and precious little you can do for her family. It's YOU that need the attention right now. : From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 31 01:08:25 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 31 01:10:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] Re: crazy things References: Message-ID: "Indigo" wrote in message news:hcgbbf$7bv$1@news.spamcop.net... : : "Sylvesterthekat" wrote in message : news:Xns9CB34225AED8Bsylvesterthekat@216.154.195.61... : > Charles wrote in : > news:Xns9CB27251C5E64TheShrubIsAnAss@216.154.195.61: : > : >> I learned a lot about her and about myself. Some disturbing things both : >> ways, I suppose. Now it's prolly time to get some pro help, you know? : >> : > : > Really, that bad? Well if you feel you need it I guess you should, : : S-kat, if he's reached the point where he feels he may need some pro help he : should be encouraged, not questioned whether "is it really so bad that you : can't deal with it?" Admitting that "I'm having a problem dealing with this" : is THE most important step towards healing the long time wounds and feelings : about the old relationship. I wish I would have sought help after my mother : died, I know that would have benefited my relationships with my family and : members of the opposite sex.....but the past is the past, live and learn, : and try to help others to not suffer the way you did. : : That applies to all the medical problems/surgeries I've had too, when I hear : friends complaining of certain symptoms I'm quick to jump in and offer : advice so they can avoid suffering severe injuries like I did because I : didn't know what the warning signs meant at the time. Keep in mind that, in the begining, you did not want to hear what others who had BTDT were saying. From me at privacy.net Sat Oct 31 22:27:52 2009 From: me at privacy.net (Frog Prince) Date: Sat Oct 31 22:30:08 2009 Subject: [Scsocial] These are Frightfully Bad References: <8da8fe3f-53ad-43e5-a89f-6efb2d982a05@k19g2000yqc.googlegroups.com> Message-ID: What do you get when you cross a ghost with Bambi? Bamboo Why don't witches ride their brooms when they're angry? They don't want to fly off the handle What do you get if you drop a pumpkin? Squash Why don't skeletons cross the road? They don't have the guts What happened to the guy who couldn't pay his exorcist? He was repossessed Who won the skeleton beauty contest? No body