rhino

22.65 took a dozen tries ...

I'll throw my two cents in ... then more experienced can answer :) It seems it is right for them to tell who did it. But for the cop to threaten to charge them with a crime with no adult or lawyer present seems wrong.

You're still top of the class with me excie :) You're OK too DM ... some of those were just knowing terms that are easy to forget. They definitely discriminated against people that hadn't cracked a science book in 25 years or more. :o

I "make light" of many things, but it is not always clear. :) Now I want to argue with teacher again. "The planet Jupiter is primarily composed of hydrogen with a small proportion of helium; it may also have a rocky core of heavier elements." And ... "Jupiter, along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, is classified as a gas giant." I mean, there is a lot of gas around me too, but it ain't heavy. And don't get me started on my hanging chads ... I was discriminated against and I really deserve an A so I will feel better about myself. WARNING ... take the test here if you want and haven't yet ... before reading the discussion. But if you're going to cheat, cheat off the A student.

This site says a pint of local beer is about a buck. I'll meet you at the pub in 10 years. But it is only 8 miles across the island ... wow ... crime free, decent "free" health care ... sounds interesting ... I've wondered about different places where the cost of living would be much less ... but language, safety and freedom could be an issue. Malta sounds good (though probably not cheap) ... one would have to have a nice boat I'd think. Fish and visit the coastal cities ... take the bike of the boat and pedal around a bit ... jolly good ... :)

Nice job Evan, and you other guys ... Comets are dirty ice ... I think I knew that, but I put nickel ... man, I was not in test mode ... not sure where I got nickel, unless there is a lot of that in asteroids or meteors. I was thinking of that Bruce Willis movie, but that wasn't a comet like Hale Bot ... or whatever... Meteor - meteoroid ... I thought 'roids were a problem on earth, but I guess they are around Uranus. :D I missed the lever one 'cuz I thought you had to have a fulcrum ... but I guess the arm is a third-class lever, according to wikipedia. Of course pulley didn't make sense either. I put just aerobic, I guess anaerobic is when there is not enough oxeygen so lactic acid is formed. So it is limited but does occur in humans (mammals). I was a horticulture major, but I put attract insects and disperse the seed. I didn't see how getting the seed eaten really "protected" the seed, and plenty of seeds are not so protected. But technically the flower is not the fruit, the fruit comes along after the insect has pollinated the ovary. But I had to argue with the protection part. LOL Jupiter is gaseous ... who knew? LOL I guess Venus seemed closest

Well, I got a C ... not very impressive. Here it is ... There are 26 multiple choice questions ... I think I missed six.

If you are going for the free health care, they say it is best to move to a rural area where there is probably less waiting. The grass is greener in Canada ... :)

They are probably charging you maybe triple as self pay ... you should be able to negotiate that down to much less. Just say NO! :) But really, I knew someone that did a liver transplant from Dad to small child, they owed a ton. I asked wife what she learned ... that was what she brought up, don't just pay what they tell you. That was 12 years ago, but I think it is worth a shot. Maybe ask what the charges would be if you'd had insurance. Then tell them you will pay that. Someone smarter than me I might know a better way to negotiate it :) but I bet they are charging triple. (edited for grammar nazis )

Paris seems to be famous for being famous without doing much to be famous. Of course there was that sex tape ... and now the internet covers all things trivial ... more real than a soap opera I guess, or those wrestling guys ...

Well, life does seem to be the Royal Flush. Rocks and laws of physics are pretty amazing too, but I'd have to say life trumps all that. With just a little understanding of science, it would be easy to claim the life of any kind is much more probable on an Earth like environment than a lead melting environment. There are only so many elements it seems, and having most of them in a gaseous or solid state doesn't seem to support life. Christianity doesn't really offer anything. Even if God created it, that doesn't really help us understand how God did it. Maybe we'll never be more informed than the Ford was about Henry! :)

Free at last Free at last I thank God Paris is free at last ... The results are in ... 23 days I think, she looks genuinely happy, maybe I'll give her a call :)

Assuming it was OK to confiscate, it still should be treated as a government asset or police fund. They should consider the cost of paying it off and maintaining it against the dollar value of selling it. I don't know how the DARE program benefits by these cops having a cool expensive car to buzz around in. It looks more like a toy the cops thought they had a right to. Instead of lowering the tax burden, it increased it. Bad boys bad boys ... watcha gonna do ...

I haven't seen the film, and I think I get your point George. But on the other hand, you don't care about getting the other hands, just the winning hands. But if there is a deck with only Royal Flush cards of one suit, then the odds of getting the royal flush go way up. So the question of what the odds are is significant, if you are looking for a particular result. So the odds of getting that particular meaningless hand are the same as the royal flush, but the royal flush is a planet that can support life. So whether that is a one in a hundred thing, or a one in a bazillion thing seems significant. Some believe that life just sorta pops up in those places that can support it. To me, logic says even those meaningless hands or planets shouldn't even exist. Who made the bang big? Why are there forces, why are they constant? If there is a wall at the end of the universe, what is on the other side ... impossible questions that lead to silly scientific answers like curved space, worm holes, and relativity. But to have something as unexplainable as life and death multiplies the "odds" (of something I see as already impossible) by another 1/bazillion. And then to multiply the odds of something as strange as consciousness ("number 5 is alive" ... or whatever the quote is from "Frankenstein" when lightning gives him life) ... makes the chances a bazillion times more unlikely. But basically I'm just saying the specialness of life and a royal flush are determined by how many cards are in the deck. It seems that is what the film looks at, and I don't see why that is a logical fallacy.

Sure, I've read about you guys ... bad grammar fighters On firefox, I just get squiggly red lines under mispelled words, though not always, for some reason.

Good points Belle ... one exception ... I always like to point out errors if they make for humorous unintended meanings. I can't think of a great example at the moment. :) I'll add ... I was surprised once to receive a quite eloquent and polite letter from an uncle that had not finished high school. He was stubborn, "backwoodsy", and not big on cleanliness, but this letter was excellent. With email and forums taking on more of a conversational tone with abbreviations and all, it seems actually composing and structuring a good letter has become "old school", or a lost art. Of course additionally, education today is not the same, and students are allowed to "feel good" about themselves and their own unique cultural spellings.

I just saw this, so thought I better respond to Nika from Octoburrrr ... Well, my "Ambrosia" is often mixed with red soda, and I have recently tried coke. Considering what I have in my vineyard, I'm probably at $8/bottle now, though that is no indication of quality. My 2006 wine is still in carboys in the basement. This year most got frozen with a warm early spring then a couple days with low 20's. I don't think I would enjoy any wine I had to pay over $12 for ... my tastes are not that refined :)

Rose, he arose, by any other name would smell as sweet ... yes, the honey wagon job was only appreciated by the deeply spiritual, I never attained that level. The elusive Corps beer, I hardly knew it ... but now I lift my mug to excie and SALUTE ... A party for young excie .... wahooo. ... Happy Birthday Excie ...

And not a highway ... think of a street with a 35 mph speed limit. Imagine crossing that street and seeing a car heading your way at 62 mph. Then try to imagine twice that speed. Even if it was fairly desolate, this seems really dangerous. If the guy could afford a $65k car, a little fine would mean nothing. But the "fine" should match other similar crimes i guess. I don't see how the police get to claim the prize as their own toy.

"Wreckless" endangerment comes to mind ... But it brings to mind a murder charge ... when someone fires a gun at someone, but misses, how much different is that from the guy that happens to hit and commit murder? If proof could be absolute, why not give the guy that happened to miss the chair? It might save an innocent life or five. As a felony it seems property can be forfeited ... in this case it seems just to me ... but I'd rather see them sell the car I think.

Glad you're back to normal feeling better, mstar :) Perhaps you'd want to enter the nettle eating contest next year ... although the world record holder doesn't recommend it... Stinging nettles are unpleasant to touch let alone eat, but dozens of people gather to particpate in the 'World Nettle Eating Championship' In a small village in Dorset, England, hundreds of spectators gathered to watch people eating nettles. As part of the 'World nettle Eating Championship' competitors had to munch their way through the leaves in one hour. Mouth numbing substances were not permitted, but a swig of beer between bites was allowed.

Sure, since he finally got caught, it seems obvious he went "too far". But as TL said "It is sad to realize that if Mr Nifong had first, not deliberately withheld evidence and second, confined his inflamatory remarks to within the courtroom, he would not have been held accountable for any of his actions." It seems there are miscarriages of justice all the time, it is just a matter of what they can get away with. Apparently things are so bad, that Nifong figured he could get away with even these outrageous actions, and without a bevy of expensive lawyers, he may well have. A comment that slipped out to me recently ... "it's not worth suing over". They were taking something, and decided they could get it because it would cost maybe $10,000 to sue to get it back. So in essence as long as they "stole" under that $10K amount, it would be too expensive to sue to get it back. And when they have to give it back, there is no penalty for stealing. If Joe Sixpack is caught stealing $300 from a convenience store, he does time. If a lawyer and client steal $50,000, they may be disappointed at not getting away with it, but usually it seems they just have to give the money back. Other times the "victim" is just too poor to hire lawyers, so they really get fleeced, and lawyers seem thrilled at what they get away with. And if there is embezzlement or fraud, there seems no interest in prosecution of those things ... they don't want to devour their own, so to speak. Using unethical and even illegal tactics to gain advantage seems the norm. Hopefully the Nifong case will give others pause, but probably not.

You are obviously out of fellowship and/or have not been abundantly sharing. ;) Here is the wikipedia account ... stinging nettle seems right ... Jumping into a tub of ice may have helped

Thanks TL ... on that judge's pants suit ... I saw this article on overlawyered.com (also appeared in The Wall Street Journal) • David and Goliath talk notwithstanding, legal action is often a powerful dis-equalizer of the playing field, as those who know how to work the system fleece the outsiders, the novices, the distracted and the trustful. • The other source of Mr. Pearson's power -- his ability to hold the threat of huge penalties over the Chungs' heads -- arises from consumer laws that encourage complainants to multiply the stated penalty for a single infraction by the whole universe of a business's clientele, or by all the days in the calendar, with no need to prove actual injury. This sort of mechanical damage-multiplication has been a key engine in shakedown scandals in California It's nice to see that even the organized plaintiffs bar piously deplores Mr. Pearson's abuse of the law. It would be even nicer if they agreed to stop opposing reforms that would give the Chungs of the world a fighting chance the next time around. It does seem these lawyers keep score with each other. Finding ways to mislead and lie without getting caught are just part of the "fun".

You went to you name calling mode trying to stifle the subject. That is like protecting him ... my opinion, yes I do have a right to that. His abuse of power, and the consequences ... that is the point. That is the larger picture I am exploring. If you only want to dwell on his politics, that is up to you. I don't care what his politics are.