StrangeSox

How can people not figure out these ridiculously simple ballots?

I would like to hear the legal reasoning on this one. The courts have ruled that private organizations (like the Boy Scouts) can discriminate against gays and atheists in the past. I don't get the second half of that article launching into a rant about Muslims and Sharia law.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 04:12 PM) if the market goes back up, which it probably eventually will, you are actually buying at a good rate right now. could work out for you. for people who are retired and need their savings; yea they are getting rocked. but the market has risen by so much over the decades they are still coming out way ahead. I think you need to keep investing and just expect that the market will, eventually, turn itself around, because if it doesn't, you have much bigger problems than losing a few thousand dollars. When I look at my 401(k) balance, which has lost over 60% of its value now (I've only been in it for a year so it doesn't hurt too much), I just keep telling myself "You're buying it all on sale now."

My numbers are based off a class on energy production I took two years ago, but coal-fired power plants are ridiculously cheap ($/kW) compared to just about anything else. If they regulate them to the point that they either jack up the prices to compensate or are replaced with more expensive alternatives, we'll see higher costs. I just fear that Democrats are going to regulate the energy sector and set energy policy without really analyzing the consequences beyond the current "green" buzzword.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 20, 2008 -> 11:34 AM) Should be a very good thing for the economy. Unless energy policy changes so that energy costs are double what they are now, which can easily happen if they get too regulation-happy.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 02:47 PM) Any 360 owner read up on the new netflix service? I have netflix now and the movies/shows available online are pretty slim - basically old movies/indy films I would not watch. I'm assuming those available online are going to be the same ones available on the 360? Yep, it's the same ones. You can't browse the selections on your 360, either. They have to be in your "instant que" online. Hopefully they change that in the future. There seems to be a decent selection of movies and TV shows, though. They're always adding more.

What about Tom Waits, the voice that makes you want to do heroin? RS's lists are usually pretty terrible.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 10:54 AM) Well, at least fire that caddy. However, I must say, he says "anyone would have done it" and that sure isn't true. He deserves props for his honesty, but his honesty makes him an idiot. I disagree that it makes him an idiot. It makes him a better person.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 12:12 PM) We're good, I just felt like that was directly at me and I wanted to throw that out there, I wasn't trying to start anything. In reference to what you said specifically I went into further detail with that later in the thread. Summary: Blacks are overwhelmingly Democrats, have been for a while, and will continue to be About 90% voted for Kerry About 95% voted for Obama (a Democrat, who is also charismatic and who got more votes from other races too) Some were idiots and voted on race alone, but not that many Anecdotally, I know of only 2 black people that voted McCain (my brother is one), the rest of them are Democrats and voted Obama, and I can't name a single one that voted for him because he was black Conclusion: A certain, unknown percentage of blacks voted based on race just like a certain, unknown percentage of whites voted against him for the same reason. This hasn't been denied or challenged by anyone on my side of the argument, to my knowledge, and nobody's been claiming ALL blacks voted purely, or that ALL white voters voted against him because they're racist (except Tex who sticks to his bizarre claim that we are) because it would be ludicrous.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 19, 2008 -> 09:16 AM) Wow. I had totally missed that. I think it was about the auto companies where I had read that if every single employee were to work for free, the legacy costs they had would still have the company losing money. That is a huge difference. It also changes the palatability of a bailout, because all they have to do is survive 2009 and their cost structure changes dramatically. I am guessing it is only a matter of time before the UAW figures out a way to pawn off the retirement costs on to the government. It's been in the news for a couple of weeks and that's one reason GM is using when pleading for this money. They will be in much better shape, both employee cost wise and model lineup wise, in 2010 if they can make it that long.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 18, 2008 -> 12:17 PM) Doesn't excuse it (not impying that you say it does). It's about time some of them earn their virgins at the end of a few ship-to-ship missles. Let me be 100% clear that I was not condoning or excusing the behavior in any way. I was just pointing out that it's a large problem with a lot of people to stop and a lot of water to cover.

This tanker was captured about 500 miles off shore. That's a huge area to patrol. Many Somalians simply have no other means of 'earning' a living, so there's a lot of motivation behind the piracy.

From what I have heard, the US is taking an active presence in the region. I don't know if they're actively engaged any pirates on a regular basis (they have fired on them in the past), but the mere presence of a US warship is probably enough to deter a group from attacking the region it is in. The problem is that the international group patrolling these waters is just too small to stop every attack.

QUOTE (Shadows @ Nov 15, 2008 -> 06:10 PM) For those of you thinking about buying Fallout 3 because of what has been said about it in this thread, don't. Its garbage. If all you care about is a wasteland looking pretty, by all means spend the 60+ to get it. If you like gameplay and actual stuff like that, its a piece of s*** and your money would be better spent elsewhere (Call of Duty: WaW) You do not know what you're talking about. If you like the Elder Scrolls games by Bethesda, you'll probably like Fallout. There's plenty of game play and story in this game.

Bankruptcy could be a deathblow for a car manufacturer. Who wants to spend $20-100K on a car whose warranty might mean nothing in 6 months?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 17, 2008 -> 10:34 AM) That's just it. That track record is bogus. It's like taking a click at Russian Roulet and thinking you are invincible because you didn't get the bullet. I believe the Clinton administration backed Greenspan's push for deregulation in the derivatives market, right?

If you go to remax.com or a similar real estate site with a "map view" option, it looks like about 50% of Bolingbrook is in foreclosure.

Let's just hope it was nothing worse than a bad joke that is in seriously poor taste.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Nov 14, 2008 -> 11:57 AM) New brakes on my car. I was gonna buy something useful like a Xbox or something, but my brakes went to s*** and had to fix them. It's either sitting in my savings account or went to pay off some of my student loans.

The question is was the caribou population being threatened, or was this just part of a natural cycle? Killing wolves so that there are more caribou for people to hunt isn't a noble goal, imo.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 13, 2008 -> 12:06 PM) Except that is a fully incorrect understanding of what a CDS is. Yeah, I guess I wasn't reading too closely. Their description was inaccurate, but the CDS market did get heavily leveraged. I think it was an NPR story where I heard there were about $9T worth of actual mortgages for about $45T worth of CDS hedges/ bets.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Nov 13, 2008 -> 01:48 PM) You wouldn't. We can stop here. Tex, I'd honestly like to know where you're coming from here. I really don't see what angle you're getting at.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Nov 13, 2008 -> 01:21 PM) And why do some species become extinct? Most species become extinct and there is no singular answer for "why?" besides "life's a b****." I still don't see why any of this would make people uncomfortable with a scientific theory. It's like being afraid of the theory of gravity because it hurts when you fall.

QUOTE (sox4lifeinPA @ Nov 13, 2008 -> 01:08 PM) because then anyone who either chooses not have children or can't have children* lose the everlasting battle for genetic supremacy. *I'll let you decide who those people might be. Evolution isn't a set of beliefs, customs, or practices. It's just a description of a natural phenomenon. There's nothing good, bad, or evil about it. It just is. *Those people could be infertile couples or couples with other medical/ health complications that prevent pregnancy. My grandparents were barely able to have my mom. Also, homosexual women can be artificially inseminated and gay men can donate sperm.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Nov 13, 2008 -> 12:32 PM) .So what does it mean when a species is not able to pass on any copies of their genes? Extinction. Why would that make a scientific theory uncomfortable for anyone? It's a reality.