Jenksismyhero

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 04:41 PM) From $1.75 per ride to get to and from work to $3.00 there and back is bulls***... That's the other thing no one is really talking about. You can't raise the prices much more or you will lose riders. If it's going to cost me an extra 3-4 bucks to take a cab and get somewhere 10 times as fast, why would I waste my time taking mass transit? Or if I'm going to drop that much why not just get a car? It might cost me more, but it sure is less of a hassle and a hellsofalot more sanitary. I'm lucky because I'm a student and pay $75 for an entire semester of free rides. But come December when I'm done and will be shoveling out $30-35 a week on the train/bus I'll be looking for alternative means of transportation.

To me the entire system is crap. When I first moved up here a few years ago I thought the El was one of the nicer commuter systems in the country, but after visiting cities like DC (the best), Boston, New York, etc, it really pales in comparison. It's dirty, frequently late, and especially these last few years, really slow because of all the construction. It's clear too that management is piss poor. Did you hear that if they go ahead with their doomsday plan it's going to cost the CTA 2 million just to implement it. And then if the state eventually decides to give them the money it'll cost them 5 million to get the system back to 'normal.' What is that all about? My solution to increase revenue: get rid of this stupid rate system. People traveling from Evanston to the Loop should not pay the same as someone who goes from Grand or Clark/Division to the Loop. It's asinine. Every other major metro area has different zones with an increased price the farther out you go. Why Chicago still doesn't do this is beyond me. I'd be ok if the state 'bailed' out the CTA because of unseen circumstances that took a toll on the CTA's books, like a natural disaster taking out a station and some track. But this problem is based purely on piss-poor management. Change management and give them the money. Don't just hand over a check so they'll screw it up again. And I won't even bother discussing the bus drivers/train conductors who somehow are pulling in 75k+ a year in salary...

No it was a response to Middle Buffalo's post above. I think you and I agree on this issue.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Sep 10, 2007 -> 12:44 PM) Do you have any data to back up your guesstimation? Probably not, I'd guess. I was talking with a friend of mine who lives in Northwest Arkansas. He thinks that the number of hispanics in his corner of the world is 10 to 20% of the population - and most of them are illegally here. They work for meat packers. Same in Wilkesboro, NC - where I saw it with my own eyes. You stop the cheap labor force that powers the meatpacking industry and watch the price of food skyrocket. If you don't want to have illegals here, fine. But if you're gonna target the illegal immigrants, target the companies who want them here too, like Tyson, Swift and a lot of the other meatpacking firms that knowingly hire illegals because then they don't have to worry about Workmen's comp when someone loses a finger or three or worse. I have no problem with the government going after businesses that hire illegals. That would help the process. My post was in opposition to people who think illegals are fine and that peope should relax because they're already a part of the system. That may be the case, but it doesn't make it right and it certaintly doesn't deserve the response of turning our heads and allowing such activity without some reprecussions.

lol, "valid" and "it may not be theirs" doesn't fit. I have a valid bank account. It's filled with the money that I stole from people. But hey, the account is legal! And it's a correct statement to say that SOME illegals pay taxes. SOME being the key word. Out of the roughly 12 million, my guesstimation would be less than 500,000 do. That's a whole lot of tax revenue that we're missing out on, all while most of those millions have children who get free education and free health care. And who cares that other Americans don't report their income to the government? You know what happens to them when they get caught? They go to jail. The IRS doesn't say "oh hey, you didn't report your income because you have a family and you work hard. Bah, lets forget about it." And that's some poor logic. Just because Tommy does it too doesn't make it right. The economy is strong enough to support a very very very small dip in the lost income from illegals. I'd bet most illegals shop at places like Wal-mart where they can consume lots of goods on the cheap. I'm guessing Wal-mart would be just fine if they lost that business. Agree, but that doesn't mean we should just give people amnesty. There's a process of citizenship. You shouldn't be "rewarded" the rights that go with it just because you came over and had a kid. I'd argue they put a bigger strain than most think, but that's because we have morons like Blago who think money grows on trees and the government (you and i, the taxpayer) should pay for everyones everything. But I agree with your last comment. The wall is a joke and massive deportation isn't a viable option either. My solution: massive raids on any known illegal in the country. If they can prove they've been here, working, for more than two years, they can stay, so long as they pay every penny they owe to the system. The "fringe" illegals, those with families who might not work, or those who are here working but for less than two years, get 6 months of temporary work visas to get their paperwork in order and start the process of citizenship (all while paying back what they owe to the government). Everyone else gets kicked out and has to stand in line. In conjunction with this massive sweep, the entire immigration process is revamped. It's ridiculous that it takes someone YEARS to be granted citizenship. Put the XXX millions we want to spend on building a stupid wall and hire some add'l staff for the naturalization offices around the country. Speed that process up and half of the problem of immigration would be solved.

Since we've had a lot of other HBO show threads there must be some HBO fans out there. Has anyone checked out the new series yet? It debuts this weekend, but the first episode is on HBO On Demand. I think it's going to be a pretty interesting show. It's essentially soft-porn with the sex scenes, but I think the story lines could really be solid. One couple has trust issues (soon to be married), one couple is older with a couple kids and haven't had sex in over a year and the third is a couple that can't get pregnant. My gf was pretty meh about it, which is suprising because she was the one excited about it and I really wasn't. But after watching I think I'll definitely tune in to episode 2. Anyone else see it?

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 28, 2007 -> 07:20 PM) Just curious... if every time you posted something that was black-on-white or hispanic-on-white racism, someone else posted an example of the opposite direction... how would you react? I fail to see the point of these. I'm pretty aware that racism in all directions and all forms still exists. Is that the point? I think I'd say "gee, that's proof that every race has as*holes so lets all stop with the whites are the only race that practices racist/discriminatory conduct Mr. Jackson and Mr. Sharpton." The point of the post (as if there NEEDS to be a point on an online message board) was based on the reaction I first had after reading the headline. I thought this was some backwards-ass Texas town that did something horrible to embarass the black kids in class. Instead I opened the article and found out that it was a black asst principal who sent the email and she had a pretty solid reason for doing so. And then I wanted to note the hypocrasy of the actions by the principal and super-intendent - who would find this email objectionable, especially if people knew it came from a black 'leader' of the school? - and that another minority group was at first offended by the fact that they weren't included in the 'racist' email, but later, after actually reading the email and understanding it's purpose, suddenly became ok with it. And to top it off, yeah I thought it'd be interested to think of the reaction if people found out a white person had sent the email, with the same intentions of helping those students who statistically are failing at a high rate. They'd forget about the intentions (as did the principal, super-intendent and leader of the latin american group) and consider it blatant racism and everyone and their mother would be up in arms over it. Instead its a story that skated right on by, further proof of the hypocracy of the vast majority of racism that you hear about on the news.

Eh. I think that's a stretch. 5% of the population (if that) isn't "common." It's become "common" because mainstream pop culture has accepted, or more often promoted the practice. But regardless... ...this is spot on and I agree completely.

damn dude, glad you're ok as well. that's some f*cked up stuff right there.

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 28, 2007 -> 05:30 PM) There's a loophole in everything these days. The matter opens the doors for a lengthy debate, which I don't care about either. In any event my point wasn't to discuss your response, it was to try to have posts be above malicious ignorance when commenting about what happened. Was he drunk? It's likely. Was he "definitely"... apparently only 101 knows that. Funny how I never see such a stanch reply in the filibuster forum where everyday someone posts comments about Bush Co purposely sending our boys into war for oil and the benefit of his pocket. I'll have to look out for that from now on so as to keep the boards clean of any libelous comments that are unfounded and based on nothing more than speculation.

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Aug 28, 2007 -> 04:44 PM) You mean like blue eyes? Red hair? Skin pigmentation? Ginger kids!

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 28, 2007 -> 03:46 PM) um... I didn't say any of those things. And yes, if you like sweets and that results in you being overweight, then you probably will be heathier and happier if you come to terms with that. Those "terms" may mean quitting, or moderation, or just doing it. Who knows? You are trying to make this into an argument that no one is making with you. Here is what I am saying - do whatever you want to. Just don't tell people they are somehow wrong or evil, when you do those things yourself. Its the plain old glass houses thing, when it comes down to it. Nothing more. This might be a stretch, as I know nothing about this guy or the state he represents, but is he anti-gay or is he just voting that way because of who he represents? More likely than not he is anti-gay, but to be sure just because he votes that way doesn't automatically make him that.

http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/new...12588&rfi=6 (1) I bet everyone who read the thread topic instantly thought "oh my! how racist!" (2) If the principal/assistant super-intendent really didn't have a problem with it and agreed that young black men needed more attention from teachers, what was wrong with the email? (3) I love the reaction at the end of the article: Why are they talking to a spokesperon for Latin Americans when the email had nothing to do with them? And what kind of reaction is that? "Ohhh, I understand the goal. It's cool, no biggie." (4) Imagine the outrage if a white assistant principal, with the SAME well-reasoned intentions, had done this. Imus x 10 million.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Aug 27, 2007 -> 03:50 PM) EGM September: "Reviews Bioshock 10, 10, 10 GOTM Heavenly Sword 8, 8, 9 Warhawk 8.5, 7, 8.5 MySims 6, 5.5, 6.0 Sonic Rush Adventure 7.5, 7.0, 7.0 Wild Arms 5 8, 6.5, 5 Eternal Sonata 6, 8, 7 Madden 2008 9, 9, 8.5 NHL 2008 (EA) 9.5, 9, 9 Medal of Honor Airborne 6.5, 8, 5.5 Rumors -Capcom working on Okami Wii -Kingdom Hearts spinoffs/prequels for various systems similar to what Square-Enix is doing with FF & DQ -Castlevania for 360 and PS3 in the works -Oblivion PSP canned? -New Jak and Daxter game from Naughty Dog after Uncharted" Surprised Bioshock got all tens considering they've only done that like 12 times in their 20 or so year history. EDI: I don't have this or anything and I took it from another source. They said Warhawk was deducted a full point off each score for being +30$. So it got great scores from the usually tough EGM reviewers. Hmm. my reactions: Bioshock - amazed it got a 10. It took me like 6 hours just to get the stupid thing to work correctly - I had no sound after the intro movie - and the two reviews I read said that people on Vista couldn't run it without difficulties. How's a game a perfect 10/10 if you can't get it running properly or without headache? Even when I got it going I wasn't THAT impressed. The water looked pretty amazing, but other than that it was just a good fps, but nothing really ground breaking. Madden - how this game got above an 8 is beyond me. It's a venti with a little extra whip cream instead of a plain grande (for you Starbucks addicts like myself). I still prefer 2003. Medal of Honor - this shocked me. Every one has been solid but Rising Sun, which was one of those games that forgot to go through the QA process before it was shipped. Everything I have read, including gamespots hands-on preview posted today, made it seem like this was going to revitalize the series. I guess we'll see.

QUOTE(DonkeyKongerko @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 09:09 AM) People who say Halo is overrated probably are basing that opinion on singleplayer. That's fine, Halo 1's singleplayer was good but not groundbreaking, 2 was a disappointment at best. It doesn't matter, the masses consume Halo for online console FPS play. What is so overrated about that? The fact is that alot of people love the competition. When you buy Halo 3, you are buying membership into a huge online community with competitions, rewards, and downloadable content. It's by far the biggest FPS community in console gaming and maybe in all of gaming. Personally, i don't like playing Halo online or any other console FPS's, but I understand why people do. I am more interested in the Halo 3 singleplayer, which we don't know much about yet. You can bet the ending will be better than Halo 2, though, since they aren't making another one. But go ahead and keep calling things overrated without backing up your arguments if it makes you feel better. I've played both and I still consider it the most overrated franchise ever. It did nothing to advance the fps genre. Nothing new at all. Wow, you put a bunch of people into a world together and they all shoot each other. I was playing games like that (counter-strike...prolly the best ever online fps) since the late 90's. That game was 10 times better than Halo. Normally i'd say to each is own, but I've played numerous fps shooters, the medal of honor series (better than halo), , call of duty (better than halo), farcry (better than halo), half life (WAY better than halo), , etc etc. Halo to me is just the same old run of the mill fps that offered nothing new except the option to drive a car around. Yank. There, that made me feel better.

I read a quote from the guys who were following her. They said they didn't go after her in the church because it would have been a struggle. There were lots of people there protecting her. They waited for her to leave and get out into the open. As soon as she did that she was arrested. I think the funniest part about it is that she is still spewing crap about the US government owing her rights. Oh and the Mexican Senate doesn't agree with the treatment the US had towards her. Spank, spank.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 22, 2007 -> 11:48 PM) The Watkins clearinghouse stuff is a lie, the reason he's back in Cali is he's homesick and the staff is trying to convince him to not change his mind and go to school back close to home. The academic stuff is pure nonsense, and the fact Bruce added it in the presser proves he's trying to quell that notion that some of us know. Also, I hope Jamar does something minor enough to not hurt anybody again but get kicked off the team, I dont think Bruce realizes how many fans he'll lose by having a convicted felon on his team. Is this your opinion or do you have inside information? I thought it had more to do with the fact that he had transferred to like 5 different schools in a 4 year period and some paperwork was delayed. I really doubt the NCAA would like a coach blaming delays on them. They wouldn't just sit back and take it.

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 23, 2007 -> 10:34 AM) "White guilt"...? Not quite. The racism is clear as day on the screen in black and white. You defending it speaks volumes, though. And no, we're not ALL guilty of making disgusting ASSumptions about others IN or OUT of ones race. Maybe the world YOU live in is full of judgemental assholes, but where I CHOOSE to associate is far from anything like that. Lumping in an ENTIRE race and calling them guilty of dumbing down a race shows the true stupidity of the one doing the generalizing. (A) it's good to know we have someone of perfect moral fiber on the board. That's always nice to have. I thought Jesus was the only one who was truly perfect, but I guess we've found another. (B) I think you're reading into his comments a little too much. He said blacks stick to their people in these situations. Why is this such a shocker? I really doubt he meant every last man and woman always sides with people of their own race, but the majority do. Again, look at OJ. And again, look at my example of being a football fan. Everyone does it. ©I love the comedian Patrice O'neals comments on this stuff: If we can all just admit we're all a little racist, the world would be a better place.

The NAACP, Sharpton, Jackson, and any other "leader" of black organizations have set back race relations more than the normal everyday joe walking the streets. Why? Because they continue to harp on everything negative that ever happens to a black person. THEY are the ones who continue to differentiate the races and THEY are the ones who continue to drive an axe between all of us. This White guy is a perfect example. He could have said "this Vick guy is such a douchebag. He kills dogs. How sick is that? No human should act that way." Instead he takes on the "oh he's black and he's being charged with a crime....well duh, its the white mans fault." Race didn't need to play a part in this. But HE brought it up. I think people who suffer from white guilt should relax a little bit and stop calling whitesoxfan a racist. He's pointing out an obvious trait in all of us. Black people do generally stick up for their own. The OJ trial being the best example. Chappelle did a great piece on this when he poked fun of blacks reactions to OJ, Kelly and then Robert Blake ("ah yeah, that mf did that"). I'm fine with him asserting this so long as he also agrees that every race does that. It's sort of like being a football fan of a university. If a rival team has some guys who get caught being drunk and the NCAA does nothing about it, you get pissed. You yell and scream about how unfair the system is, how terrible the coaches/AD run their program, etc etc. If it happens to players on your favorite team, well, it wasn't THAT bad. The kid was just drinking, all college kids do that right?

most overrated game series in the history of video games = Halo.

Two comments: 1. Anyone else find it ironic/hilarious that his last name is White. 2. Wtf does this mean: ""Some have said things to save their own necks," White said. "Michael Vick has received more negative press than if he had killed a human being." White said he does not support dogfighting and that he considers it as bad as hunting. "His crime is, it was a dog," White said." Specifically that last sentence. Was that like a self-interrupted sentence? "His crime is [not even serious].....it was [just] a [f'ing] dog [man, come on!]." Is that what he meant to say?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 22, 2007 -> 11:00 AM) Normally I hate John Stewart, but this was pretty good. I had the same reaction watching the NBC guys talk about Vick. God forbid this ends Vicks football days. It would be so awesome if Goodell threw the book at him and banned him from the league for life. If the professional sports leagues would grow a pair and realize more money would be made in not running thug leagues than by keeping high profile names we'd all be happier. Mr. Stern...calling Mr. Stern...

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Aug 21, 2007 -> 04:32 PM) That's exactly what I meant. And to my understanding, the overwhelming majority of premium games won't be on that network anyways, no? That's what I meant by fringe games. I'd take that bet of those home shopping channels having higher ratings than whatever programming that big 11 channel is gonna come up with when not featuring what would basically be considered lower-tiered games. And it'll also be about 6 non-football and basketball months of sports with very minimal interest along with that programming. Honestly though, is it a channel that even the most die-hard big 10 fans will be watching much of outside of a few games? How many people are really interested in big 10 men's volleyball and softball?? I would actually argue that the BTN can pull in huge numbers overall, but maybe not everyday, more so than the NFL network. Think about it this way, every saturday in the fall there would be like 6-7 big ten football games right? Two or three of those are going to be on ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC (w/ the occasional NBC with ND). The rest go to the espn+ which the BTN will pick up. If Ohio State or Michigan can pull 80-90k people just into their stadiums, how many people are watching at home? How many of those people would watch Ohio State beat up on Troy or Michigan beat up on Central Michigan (which usually aren't televised on the major networks)? A lot. Hundreds of thousands. And that's just two teams. The middle to lower big ten teams have huge followings. Illinois and Indiana get big time viewership, as does Purdue and Wisky, and they're only on big networks 3-4 times a year. And that's just football. Bring in basketball and you're talking about decent games 3-4 nights a week. The BTN would pull in huge #'s with it's football and basketball coverage. Even if they fill the rest of the week with non-popular events like volleyball and track and field, the week will still have great audience numbers. More so than the NFL network IMO and well worth the cost for comcast and rcn (my cable) to pick it up.

QUOTE(EvilJester99 @ Aug 21, 2007 -> 07:54 PM) I am looking at buying the PS3...do you think its worth the $$$?? Honestly this question always comes down to (a) are you choosing between two consoles or just whether to pick up a ps3, B) how much money do you have, © how advanced is your home entertainment system. I've been a ps3 owner from the first month of the launch and i've been both happy and frustrated. Happy because the system itself is sweet. The graphics are great (though "next-gen" doesn't seem to be a huge leap from current gen....i was expected more from both consoles), the features are great, the entertainment options are great. You get a blu-ray player, which I think will ultimately win out as the HD format, for practically nothing. Assuming you have the HDTV and decent surround system, the ps3 def will take advantage of everything you have (making you feel like the thousands you've wasted has gone to something useful). I've been frustrated though with the lack of quality titles. It really hasn't been THAT big of a deal because although months pass without good releases I've been able to pick up a few games and play the heck out of them for a month or two until something I want comes out. Whereas with the ps2 I could run out and by 4 games I wanted to play practically at launch, the ps3 has been much, much slower. I bought Resistance, which lasted me a while until I could pick up the 2k MLB game, which lasted until Ninja Gaiden, which lasted until NCAA 08. And that'll last me a while until this fall/winter when Lair, Warhawk, etc comes out. But I'm a big wow nerd too so that often takes 1/2 my gaming time. So like I said it depends on your reason for buying it. If it's going to be your sole video game machine and you play quite a lot in a week, definitely check out the titles that are currently available and those that will be available in the short term before you buy. It's kinda slim pickings at the moment. For me it was fine because I can play those sports games forever and never really get bored with them and it's not my only source for video games. Also the blu-ray and being able to stream all my video from my desktop to my TV make it well worth it. This was a long ass rumble to say yes its worth the price IMO.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Aug 21, 2007 -> 06:05 PM) And most cases you can bring Pro Se, youll most likely get beat down bad, but atleast you can step on the field. Honestly that's my biggest complaint of the "system" thus far. I've got one semester left before I'm done with school, have been a clerk for about 6 months for one guy (so I'm getting 10 times the hands on experience that someone at a big firm is getting) and I've appeared in court 2-3 times a week in those 6 months. Even now when I go to court sometimes I dunno what the hell to do. There's so many steps, so much paperwork, so many procedures that's its difficult for someone like me, with the education and experience, to go do something there. I feel sorry for pro se parties because they don't have a clue what's going on. Luckily there are some judges who will essentially halt proceedings and tell the guy/girl "I can't give you advice, but look at this piece of paper, go call this number or go down to the 13th floor and get yourself some adequate representation." These situations are especially bad in foreclosure and bankruptcy cases. People lose their homes everyday and they always go up against the big banks and their high-priced attorneys. They don't know any of the defenses they can bring, they don't know the time table for foreclosures...they don't know crap, and because the judges have sooooo many cases everyday it's hard for them to be of much assistance. It's sad to watch people lose their homes in 35 seconds. But I suppose that's one reason why you should pay your bills and think before you sign on the dotted line.