Soxy

I don't see Hastert losing his seat this year, but does anyone know where I might find some info on the latest polls out of the 14th?

For all those posts that aren't just funny looking.

But is there still a purgatory? Because if not we just paid a crap load of money to get my grandma out of there for nothing. . .

I actually saw a different plus model on a talk show, and she looks pretty healthy and pretty toned. I think Crystal Ren, maybe? EDIT: She's the one I'm thinking of, here's her link: http://models.com/model_culture/tales_mode...renn/intro.html In a related note, my hunch is that model is waaaaaaaaaaay over a size 20. Waaaaaaay over.

Veronica Mars had its season premiere last night, and it was great. I love love love that show.

QUOTE(GaelicSoxFan @ Oct 3, 2006 -> 04:44 PM) I'd want these traditional hymns. For the Mass, I want "How Great Thou Art", "Nearer My God To Thee", "City of God" and "On Eagles' Wings". For the graveside service, I want "Amazing Grace", "Highland Cathedral" and Largo (Going Home) from Dvorak's Symphony #9, "The New World", all played by a bagpiper. Well, if we're doing hymns too I'd like My Life Goes On (In Endless Song) All things bright and beautiful

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Oct 3, 2006 -> 04:16 PM) que? Led Zeppelin's Wish You Were Here and not Pink Floyd's? Not familiar with that one. Eh, damn, sorry, that's what I meant. It's been one of those days.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Oct 3, 2006 -> 09:25 AM) How's everyone's work life going at the moment? Crappola. My lab partner does nothing, so the work was "redistributed." I've never liked free-time anyway.

Hmmm, for me, I would probably have to songs: First, "I hate everyone" by Get Set Go And finally, I would dedicate (from the grave) Zepplin's "Wish you were here" to my friends and fam. My dad, however, wants Spirit in the Sky and Jesus is just alright by me.

I went and saw The Science of Sleep last night. Pretty good, in the same thematic vein as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind--but not as an exceptional film. It was good, though, and worth the price of admission--it definitely has a very European vibe to it, so if you're not a fan of foreign films I wouldn't advise this one. Oh, and ladies, the lead actor, delicious. Probably the best looking thing I've seen onscreen in a very long time.

QUOTE(Queen Prawn @ Oct 2, 2006 -> 03:25 PM) In most cases, it isn't a loony who walks in off of the street. It is a kid who has lost it from being picked on and no one wants to discipline either side of the situation. Columbine was a perfect example of kids getting picked on and then their (shooters) parents turning a blind eye to how angry and violent their kids were becoming. I understand that point (and that it was made before the situation was made public). But I think discipline is really a secondary problem. The primary problem is that there appears to be such a low parental involvement in some of these cases.

QUOTE(farmteam @ Oct 2, 2006 -> 11:54 AM) They rarely compete for titles in two of the "big 3" sports (baseball being the exception). However, it's hard to argue with things like this: http://www.stolaf.edu/people/leibold/SI_Ex...May_11,2005.htm Look at #12. Sorry, but I HAVE to ask. How did you find this page through St Olaf?

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Oct 2, 2006 -> 02:49 PM) I just dont understand what it takes to motivate you to walk into a school, and just open fire on innocent people. Especially in the case of the guy who didnt even know anyone at the school. its just sick. Are school shootings the new way for people to try and get their points across? Sounds like it was a copycat of the last week's sexually motivated shooting in CO. Why people do it? I don't know, other than that they're sick f***s. QUOTE(Queen Prawn @ Oct 2, 2006 -> 01:37 PM) As well as discipline. I guess I don't know what this has to do with this school shooting. I'm not trying to be rude, I just don't understand. Crazy drifter comes into a school, takes little girls hostage and shoots a bunch of people.

So, what type of kickbacks are you offering to your supporters?

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Sep 29, 2006 -> 01:47 AM) Laura is the only designer to have one just one challenge that's left IIRC. Jeffrey and Michael both won two in a row. Rexy, have you seen pictures from the final show?

Admittedly, I liked saw the British version first but when I started watching the American one I looooooved it. But I haven't really been that amused by this season. It's really let me down, hopefully it starts to pick up soon. And after the season premiere, I was actually rooting for Pam and Roy to get back together (gasp) because as soon as Pam and Jim get together (imo) the show would be over. But I do love Dwight and Creed. Those two absolutely kill me. EDIT: I would like to say that my lab partner/office mate is actually a female version of Gareth. Seriously.

Would it cross a line to ask the person you share a lab with to CHEW WITH HER DAMN MOUTH SHUT?

QUOTE(Jimbo @ Sep 28, 2006 -> 12:45 PM) I think Michael hit the perverbial wall, just get rid of Laura, she makes the same thing over and over. Do you know 1/3rd of their viewers are men http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/livi...ctrunway27.html Really? It's a good show, but I'm surprised their share has that many men. And I agree: Laura = yawn city. When Vincent sent that gawd-awful low cut "couture" gown down the runway they blasted him (rightfully) for his model being 'almost topless.' It's like, hello! Laura's V's are just as deep. I like her commentary and personality, but her dresses put me into a coma. I'm torn on Uli, it's not stuff I would ever wear, but they're always so cute and fresh and completely not pretentious.

Deleted the thread in Fil. And I watch it. And I love it (although, not technically, a guy). I've liked Michael's designs all season, but I saw the full collections (images up at Getty) and Jeffrey was my favorite by far.

Link At Church, an 'ATM for Jesus' Pastor Marty Baker's 'Giving Kiosks' are catching on. Members say they use credit cards for everything else -- why not tithing? By Richard Fausset Times Staff Writer Published September 28, 2006 AUGUSTA, Ga. — Pastor Marty Baker preaches that the Bible is the eternal and inviolate word of God. On other church matters, he's willing to change with the times. Jeans are welcome at Stevens Creek Community Church, the 1,100-member evangelical congregation Baker founded 19 years ago. Sermons are available as podcasts, and the electric house band has been known to cover Aerosmith's "Dream On." A recent men's fellowship breakfast was devoted to discussing the spiritual wages of lunching at Hooters. It is a bid for relevance in a nation charmed by pop culture and consumerism, and it is not an uncommon one. But Baker has waded further into the 21st century than most fishers of American souls, as evidenced one Wednesday night when churchgoer Josh Marshall stepped up to a curious machine in the church lobby. It was one of Stevens Creek's three "Giving Kiosks": a sleek black pedestal topped with a computer screen, numeric keypad and magnetic-strip reader. Prompted by the on-screen instructions, Marshall performed a ritual more common in quickie marts than a house of God: He pulled out a bank card, swiped it and punched in some numbers. The machine spat out a receipt. Marshall's $400 donation was routed to church coffers before he had found his seat for evening worship. "I paid for gas today with a card, and got lunch with one," said Marshall, 30. "This is really no different." Baker came up with the kiosk idea a couple of years ago. He had just kicked off a $3-million building drive, but noticed that few people seemed to keep cash in their wallet anymore for the collection bag. So he began studying the electronic payment business. He designed his machine with the help of a computer programmer who attends Stevens Creek, and found ATM companies willing to assemble it for him. In early 2005, he introduced the first machine at his church. Since then, kiosk giving has gradually gained acceptance among his upper-middle-class flock. The three kiosks are expected to take in between $200,000 and $240,000 this year — about 15% of the church's total donations. "It's truly like an ATM for Jesus," Baker said. This summer, Baker and his wife, Patty, began selling the devices to other churches through their for-profit company, SecureGive. They are its only employees, but a handful of contractors help them custom-tailor the machines for churches. The kiosks can let donors identify their gift as a regular tithe or offering, or direct it to building or missionary funds. The machines send information about the donation to a central church computer system, which shoots the donors an e-mail confirmation. The Bakers charge between $2,000 and $5,000 for the kiosks, which come in a variety of configurations. They also collect a monthly subscription fee of up to $49.95 for licensing and support. And a card-processing company gets 1.9% of each transaction; a small cut of that fee goes to SecureGive. So far, seven other congregations have installed or ordered the machines. All of them are Protestant, and most are in the South. If the idea takes off and makes the Bakers rich, Patty says they will thank the Lord — and give a significant sum to their church. The concept is in its infancy, but it is part of a broader attempt among houses of worship to boost donations using modern technology. Among the most popular are "e-tithing" systems, which allow churchgoers to set up automatic contributions from their bank accounts — much as they would their Netflix dues. But Baker — a 45-year-old preacher who grew up in the Pentecostal churches of South Carolina — sees a more dramatic change afoot in the culture of church giving, as Americans increasingly turn to plastic for their everyday expenditures. That has certainly been true outside of church: Six years ago, debit cards were used in 21% of in-store transactions; today they account for a third of them, according to the American Bankers Assn. At church services, Baker said, the next few years could be comparable to another upheaval centuries ago, when offerings of grain and animals were replaced with what was then the newfangled medium of money. "I'll bet that caused a stir, too," he said, chuckling. Baker assumes many churches are not yet ready to change. The need to generate earthly revenue can be a sensitive topic for the clergy; lampooning their less subtle solicitations has been a sport for generations of critics, from Chaucer to heavy-metal bands. The Bakers have heard naysayers at trade shows mutter disapproval of the kiosks: Some church leaders apparently fear that a technology so closely associated with commerce might come across as crass. "Not in our church," Baker recalls one group saying as they passed a SecureGive display. Those kinds of reservations emerged in Baton Rouge, La., before Baker went into business. About three years ago, the Roman Catholic diocese there worked with a Canadian company to produce a machine that would accept bank card donations from churchgoers. Church officials hoped to place it in the Cathedral of St. Joseph, an imposing Gothic Revival building near the banks of the Mississippi River that dates to the 1850s. It's not an Aerosmith kind of place. Church officials eventually changed their minds. "I think that when it actually came time to put a kiosk in the back of a cathedral, it just wasn't quite, well — I'd like to say 'kosher,' but we're Catholic," said Mark Blanchard, the stewardship director for the diocese. When the board of Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church considered buying one of Baker's machines more recently, the issues were both generational and doctrinal. Nate Gibson, chief financial officer of the Tipp City, Ohio, church, is 25 and reckons he'll live to see a post-cash society. He was an early fan of the kiosk. But it took a vigorous debate before older members of the church board decided it was appropriate. The board had another concern: The kiosk accepted both debit and credit cards, and Ginghamsburg advises its members to avoid credit card debt. So the Bakers said they would tweak the machine to accept only debit cards. Ginghamsburg's machine was delivered late last week, and Gibson expects it to be rolled out for use in the next few days. He said that with 5,000 weekly visitors to the church, his only regret may be that he didn't order two: Debit cards hardly seem like a passing fad. "Things are not going backward," Gibson said. "We're not going to sit here in 10 years and say, 'Dang, we shouldn't have put in a debit card machine because no one's using them anymore.' " The churches that have installed the machines are noting the changes in the way people give. At Family Church, an evangelical congregation of 700 in West Monroe, La., some members choose the kiosk because they can earn bonus airline miles when they charge their donations, accountant Kristi Young said. At Stevens Creek, volunteers such as Jeff Asselin still pass around the wooden-handled collection bag. But Asselin said it is considerably lighter these days — although some people who donate at the kiosk drop their receipts in the bag as a vestige of the old ways. "The Bible talks about bringing your offerings to the church, and they like the feeling of dropping their offering in the plate," Patty Baker said. "And we also believe that your offering is part of worship, so that's how they participate." Asselin and his wife normally donate to the church by writing a check. But he said they had been experimenting with the kiosk — and modifying their traditions accordingly. In the past, they would pray over their check together, asking God to ensure it is used for good works. Now those prayers are offered in the glow of the kiosk monitor. At the Wednesday service, 27-year-old Sally Rice chose the traditional method of giving. As a Gap Kids store manager, she's more familiar than most with the way debit and credit cards work. But she hasn't made the switch at church. "I still balance my checkbook the old-school way — I write it all down," she said. Rice, however, said she had no qualms about the machine itself. She said she might make the switch when she runs out of checks. "I think it's cool." The Bakers figure most people will give up on checks before they give up on their faith. The question is whether churches will adapt. If they do, the Bakers say they will be ready with their next idea: donation machines that attach to the backs of pews.

NOTE: I edited the thread title, I didn't think it was the place to make a joke. It appears, now, that the gunman had assaulted at least one of the hostages. Colo. school attack 'sexual in nature' By CATHERINE TSAI, Associated Press Writer 23 minutes ago BAILEY, Colo. - The gunman who took six girls hostage in a high school classroom, killing one, had sexually assaulted at least some of them, the sheriff said Thursday. "He did traumatize and assault our children," Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener said. "I'll only say that it's sexual in nature." Wegener identified the suspect as Duane R. Morrison, 53, of the Denver area. He said investigators had not established any previous connection between him and the hostages. Authorities said Morrison had let four of the hostages go before a SWAT team stormed the Platte Canyon High School classroom where he had been cornered Wednesday. The gunman fatally wounded one of the girls and killed himself as the deputies charged in. The other girl escaped. The victim was identified by acquaintances and a co-worker as 16-year-old Emily Keyes, shown in a yearbook photo as a smiling blonde who played volleyball and was on the high school debate team. She was pronounced dead at a Denver hospital after Wednesday's standoff, which reminded many people of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High, less than an hour's drive away. "This is something that has changed my school, changed my community," said Wegener, a 36-year resident of Bailey. "My small county's gone." Wegener said Morrison made few demands. "Most of the demands were, 'Leave me alone, get out of here,'" he said. Asked about his decision to storm the classroom, Wegener said: "Being a sheriff in a small community, knowing all the parents, knowing the kids — my daughter graduated last year, my son's a junior here — it is very difficult. Because I'd want whoever was in my position to do the same thing. And that is to save lives," he said. Morrison began the takeover by ordering students to line up at the chalk board as he tapped each with his gun and told them to stay or go, a student in the classroom said. Cassidy Grigg, 16, said the man walked in, fired a warning shot at the floor and ordered the students to line up. He told some to leave and others — all girls — to stay. "You could tell that he wanted the females," Cassidy said on NBC's "Today" Thursday. "He tapped me on the shoulder and he told me to leave the room. I told him, 'I don't want to leave.'" "He told me that if I didn't go then he would pretty much kill me," Cassidy told ABC's "Good Morning America." "I noticed that he wanted to keep the females in the class. That's the main reason why I didn't want to go because I'm sure the girls would have felt more support if there would have been some males in the class with them." No one recognized the man, who seemed to be dressed as a student, Cassidy said. "He was just an old guy who came on a mission, and I think he got what he wanted," he told "Today." "We are a community in mourning," schools superintendent Jim Walpole said. "Our thoughts, our prayers are with our students, staff and their families. Especially the family of the student we lost." Residents gathered quietly Thursday morning at the Cutthroat Cafe, where Keyes had been a waitress for about two years, to grieve and remember, said Bobbi Sterling, a waitress and cook there. "It's very sad here. You know, the family lost their daughter but as a community, we lost a child," she said. "We're just sitting here, numb and in shock. We're all just kind of stunned. People are here for mutual support." Grigg described Emily as one of his first friends when he moved to the area in sixth grade. "She was always sweet," he told "Today." "She was just friendly. She was just a good person in general." Wegener was at a loss to explain a motive. "I don't know why he wanted to do this," Wegener said, his voice breaking. The gunman claimed he had explosives in a backpack and was wielding a handgun, authorities said. He released four hostages one by one, then abruptly cut off communication with authorities and set a deadline that forced authorities to act. He said authorities used explosives as they entered the classroom, only to have the suspect fire at officers, shoot one of the girls and then himself. School was canceled for the rest of the week at the high school and the adjoining middle school in this tiny mountain town. The lines of students fleeing the schools, the bomb squads and the frantic parents scrambling to find their loved ones evoked memories of the Columbine attack, where two students killed 13 people before taking their own lives. Michael Owens, who has one son at the middle school and another in the high school, said the anxiety was worse because the memory of Columbine was still fresh. "Things that are out of your control, you just do what you can do," he said. "It's like an earthquake." Sophomore Zack Barnes, 16, said his class moved to a room that turned out to be next to the one where the hostages were being held. They turned out the lights and sat in silence in the dark for about 20 minutes before police guided them out. "I was just praying it wasn't a mass killing," Barnes said. The schools have an enrollment of about 770 students, with 460 in the high school. Students from both were taken by bus to another school for a head count, and there were cheers from parents as their loved ones arrived.

Giuliani defends Clinton Giuliani defends Clinton on anti-terror By MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 28, 7:14 AM ET FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani defended Bill Clinton on Wednesday over the former president's counterterrorism efforts, saying recent criticism on preventing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is wrong. Political bickering over which president — Clinton or George W. Bush — missed more opportunities to prevent the attacks has been escalating since Clinton gave a combative interview on "Fox News Sunday" in which he defended his efforts to kill Osama bin Laden. "The idea of trying to cast blame on President Clinton is just wrong for many, many reasons, not the least of which is I don't think he deserves it," Giuliani said in response to a question after an appearance with fellow Republican Charlie Crist, who is running for governor. "I don't think President Bush deserves it. The people who deserve blame for Sept. 11, I think we should remind ourselves, are the terrorists — the Islamic fanatics — who came here and killed us and want to come here again and do it." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice challenged Clinton's claim that he did more than many of his conservative critics to pursue bin Laden, and she accused the Democrat of leaving no comprehensive plan to fight al-Qaida. Giuliani said he believed Clinton, like his successor, did everything he could with the information he was provided. "Every American president I've known would have given his life to prevent an attack like that. That includes President Clinton, President Bush," the former mayor said. "They did the best they could with the information they had at the time." Giuliani also said a recently declassified report that said the Iraq war had become a "cause celebre" for Islamic extremists demonstrated the need to continue the fight there. "The jihadists very much want a victory in Iraq. They feel that if they could defeat us in Iraq they will have a great victory for terrorism," Giuliani said. "What that should do is organize us to say if they want a big victory in Iraq then we have to deprive them of that victory." Giuliani said he was "very interested in considering" a run for president but would not make a decision until after the November election.

Knowing the thread starter, I thought this was a Queen themed musical set on a pirate ship (a la Billy Joel's Moving Out, and ABBA's Mama Mia). I have to say, I'm disappointed by the reality.

QUOTE(AbeFroman @ Sep 26, 2006 -> 02:38 PM) I really want to talk about some of the skits in this movie, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone who didn't see it yet. I can put a spoiler warning on the thread if you want to discuss. . .

Link Intro: A judge in America has given the go ahead to a class-action lawsuit accusing the tobacco industry of misleading smokers into buying light cigarettes as a less harmful alternative to regular ones. Judge Jack Weinstein of US District Court in Brooklyn, New York, said that there was enough evidence for the plaintiffs to push their case as a class-action, potentially enabling tens of millions of smokers to join the lawsuit, which it is estimated could cost tobacco firms between $100 billion and $200 billion in damages. What do you all think about this?