FlaSoxxJim

No, professionally I'm marine, not terrestrial. But I try to be as well-rounded in natural haistory as possible, and I tend to follow things like exotic species invasions to the degree I can. Still don't know if this is 1549's mystery Insect though, so my penny-ante 'expertise' may or may not amount to anything. As far as the bees in your ride... that Corsica is just a HONEY of a car I figure. [/nerdy]

OK, I'll have a go... 1549, any chance your INSECT (not 'bug' which is a specific order, the Hemiptera) looked anything like this? Asian Longhorned Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) Your description is pretty good - especially noting the long antennae, bent-shaped legs, dark color (these are usually jet black with lighter spots and joints) and the hard body. The hard body is suggesting you have a kind of beetle (Coleoptera) and not a grasshopper (Orthoptera). The one in the picture is what came to mind from the description and it is (now) in New Jersey. It's an exotic tree-killing (mostly maples and poplars) nuisance species that showed up in Jersey about 2 years ago - after doing some damage in Chicago and elsewhere. It has also done extensive damage in New York. They only get to be about 1.5 inches body length, but with the antennae they can get to the 5-inch total length you have suggested. Let me know if we're in the ballpark here.

My sides haven't stopped hurting from laughing so hard the other day when I say that. Do I dare watch it again?

Nah, I think it's funny enough worth re-posting for any who didn't see it. ..Plus it shows how much more creative the mac people are compared to the Wintel lemmings.

Someone (The Cheat maybe??) posted that a month or so ago, but you're right it is funny as hell. I kind of envision that online community from the story as kind of like the SoxTalk crew, except WAY, WAY Dorkier.

At least he's being proactive in his problem solving.

Mine too

or Metamucil...

We're all going down together...

No, it's your being old that makes you feel old.

Why was " resort to percussive maintenance" left off the list?

and owens?? I see the point you are trying to make in your statement "Why should parents have conflicting moral and ethical values taught to their children?" But unfortunately I think it is unrealistic today to hold society to the lofty standard of letting schools teach the Three R's and let the parents do the parenting. Because way too many parents don't bother being parents, teaching morals, or much caring about the development of their kids. The way we did it when I taught in the public school system here was probably not a bad way to go. Human sexuality, including contraception, std's, and other social issues, was taught as part of the reproduction unit in high school biology. The straight reproduction and fetal development stuff was taught just as any other biology topic, it was required teaching by state standards and students could not get out of it. The human sexuality etc. stuff was all done over two days by county-certified health care teachers (not by the classroom biology teacher), and the students HAD to have written permission from their parents (who got an advance list of topics to be covered) to participate. If parents objected, they didn't sign and the students went to study hall.

This is getting off topic, but yes quite frankly we absolutely should. I actually didn't do a ton of underage drinking in high school, but I'm very thankful I had a father who I could have called up anywhere, anytime and he'd pick me and my friends up if we had been drinking. It probably only happened two or three times. He wouldn't be overly happy about it, and he'd make sure to get me up extra early the next morning to do chores with a hangover, but he never ripped on me to the point that I ever had to drive after drinking to hide it from him. My parents drank socially but they never made a big deal out of it one way or the other. They rarely got visibly intoxicated, but also never demonized alcohol. As such, I think I never felt like I HAD to have it as a minor, but also never felt like it was a big deal who chose to have a drink or not and whether they were 16, 18, or 25 as long as they didn't endanger themselves or others.

That statement is an oxymoron. It is supposed to read...

I heard about this on NPR last week. basically most of the reviewers (with one strong dissenting opinion) said a vague reference to "barrier methods" was as close as the books needed to get in talking about condoms and pretty much anything other than abstinence. The scary part though, is that Texas as so huge that the guidelines the set forth usually have a profound effect on how the textbooks are written for the rest of the country as well.

Come to think of it you might be right. My computer has crashed three times this week - very PC-like indeed...

Yessirree, PCs are still better on most levels... IN THE FRIGGIN' BIZZARO UNIVERSE!!! What PCs have going for them, admitedly, is ubiquity in the marketplace. If you go the mac route on an office network you previously had to be ready to do a little personal IT work as well to gget it to play nice. That's largely a thing of the past though, and they integrate prretty seemlessly into most existing networks.

It was bestowing one of life's lessons on you - backup, backup, backup. That kind of applied knowledge should cost extra

Shut up and BOW DOWN already!

Ah! The evil misquoter has struck again. (PA, is that you?)

Just Say No to the cheap iron (=Wintel) and get a mac. I love my dual-2GB G5, even if it looks like a giant cheese grater. ^^ cheese grater of the Gods ^^

I was more into Public Enemy and Fishbone at the time.

Most recently updated sources put the number of rings at 11 (but others say 10) amd moons at 21. Here's a good information source... http://www.space.com/reference/uranus/overview.html Now the real question... If there are Klingons on Uranus, does that mean you aren't wiping well enough?

Danny Elfman sure has come a long way from the Oingo and/or Boingo days, huh? I'm sure Danny got a kick when Blender put them at #16 on their 50 worst bands of all time list.

Always Something There to Remind Me and Jenny Jenny were both good calls. I'll add: Ah! Leah! - Donnie Iris the Beat Goes On/Awitchin' To Glide - The Kings My Sharon-a - the Knack (even though it was released in 1979, it's an 80s song at heart) Along with Jenny Jenny, these are pretty much the New Wave anthems that I still get a kick out of. Honerable mentions: No One is to Blame - Howard Jones In a Big Country - Big Country Land Down Under - Men At Work (a buddy and I used to do a kicking acoustic version of this back when I played out more) And my embarassing 80s guilty pleasures... Prince and most anything off of the first couple Huey Lewis and the News albums Hey, admitting I have a problem is half the battle, right?