Tuesday, August 26, 2003
DJ Site: A Condom is Missing -- Is She Cheating?
Originally posted by Healer on 08/26
Say your girlfriend has a small pile of condoms that she never uses, then one day you find one of them missing. Is she cheating?
Okay, Healer isn't being unreasonable with his question.
His girlfriend has a stash of condoms, and he happens to know that one is missing. Are there reasonable explanations? Sure.
- She wanted to see how it worked
- She gave it to a friend
- She put it in her car
- She moonlights as a clown making balloon animals and ran out of balloons
- She put it in a more accessable place in her bedroom
- She's cheating
It's very conceivable that she's cheating. There's only one way to find out. Confront her. Ask her straight up and watch her reaction, particularly watching her eyes (darting, unable to make contact with yours) and her body language (nervous shifting) and a long hesitation when you ask what's up. If she doesn't have an explanation right away or seems like she's trying to think one up, or if she tries to make it about you ("What? Don't you trust me?"), I'd say that's good grounds for kicking her to the curb.
Autistic Eight-Year-Old Death at Church Ruled a Homicide
An autistic 8-year-old boy died in a homicide by suffocation during a prayer service in which church members wrapped the boy in sheets as they tried to exorcise evil spirits, the medical examiner's office said Monday.
I'm just wondering what year this is. Because for a minute, I thought we were living in the year 2003, and then all of a sudden it's looking strangely like the year 1003, with Dark Ages religious loonies thinking autism is caused by "evil spirits" and thus trying to "exorcise" them.
At least the pastor is taking responsibility for everything. Oh, wait, he's not. It was God's will. "He just passed away," Pastor David Hemphill said of the boy. "God is a mysterious person, and if he wants to call a life back, he does."
Apparently it's God's fault that they wrapped an 8-year-old autistic boy in a sheet and suffocated him while performing ancient occult rituals.
More Combat Deaths After Carrier Landing Than Before
A total of 141 United States soldiers have died from May 1 to today, compared with 137 from March 19 to April 30, according to a spokesman at Central Command at McDill Air Force Base in Florida.
Well, this is a pretty ghastly and dubious milestone to be passing. The thing is, we're judging everything based on the day when Bush rode in the little plane onto the deck of an aircraft carrier, but what's so special about that day? Bush said "Mission Accomplished", but it wasn't. If our goal was to get Saddam, he's still out there. If our goal was to find nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, we haven't. If our goal was to bring stability to Iraq, we sure as hell haven't done that.
When most of these guys signed up for service, the Army's motto was "An Army of One." Now it's "An Army of Two a Day". These guys deserve better. The deserve to be home. Now, 278 men and women will never again hold their children or kiss their spouse. They're over there getting shot, blown up, dying in friendly fire incidents, in car accidents, committing suicide, dying of disease and heat strokes. And that doesn't even count over a thousand troops that have been "wounded". Many of these men and women have lost their arms, their legs, are badly burned, lost their vision, have become paralyzed, and more. They are the forgotten casualties, chalked up to "just wounded" and cast out of mind almost immediately.
They deserve better, but there's no relief in sight.
Originally posted by Healer on 08/26
Say your girlfriend has a small pile of condoms that she never uses, then one day you find one of them missing. Is she cheating?
Okay, Healer isn't being unreasonable with his question.
His girlfriend has a stash of condoms, and he happens to know that one is missing. Are there reasonable explanations? Sure.
- She wanted to see how it worked
- She gave it to a friend
- She put it in her car
- She moonlights as a clown making balloon animals and ran out of balloons
- She put it in a more accessable place in her bedroom
- She's cheating
It's very conceivable that she's cheating. There's only one way to find out. Confront her. Ask her straight up and watch her reaction, particularly watching her eyes (darting, unable to make contact with yours) and her body language (nervous shifting) and a long hesitation when you ask what's up. If she doesn't have an explanation right away or seems like she's trying to think one up, or if she tries to make it about you ("What? Don't you trust me?"), I'd say that's good grounds for kicking her to the curb.
Autistic Eight-Year-Old Death at Church Ruled a Homicide
An autistic 8-year-old boy died in a homicide by suffocation during a prayer service in which church members wrapped the boy in sheets as they tried to exorcise evil spirits, the medical examiner's office said Monday.
I'm just wondering what year this is. Because for a minute, I thought we were living in the year 2003, and then all of a sudden it's looking strangely like the year 1003, with Dark Ages religious loonies thinking autism is caused by "evil spirits" and thus trying to "exorcise" them.
At least the pastor is taking responsibility for everything. Oh, wait, he's not. It was God's will. "He just passed away," Pastor David Hemphill said of the boy. "God is a mysterious person, and if he wants to call a life back, he does."
Apparently it's God's fault that they wrapped an 8-year-old autistic boy in a sheet and suffocated him while performing ancient occult rituals.
More Combat Deaths After Carrier Landing Than Before
A total of 141 United States soldiers have died from May 1 to today, compared with 137 from March 19 to April 30, according to a spokesman at Central Command at McDill Air Force Base in Florida.
Well, this is a pretty ghastly and dubious milestone to be passing. The thing is, we're judging everything based on the day when Bush rode in the little plane onto the deck of an aircraft carrier, but what's so special about that day? Bush said "Mission Accomplished", but it wasn't. If our goal was to get Saddam, he's still out there. If our goal was to find nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, we haven't. If our goal was to bring stability to Iraq, we sure as hell haven't done that.
When most of these guys signed up for service, the Army's motto was "An Army of One." Now it's "An Army of Two a Day". These guys deserve better. The deserve to be home. Now, 278 men and women will never again hold their children or kiss their spouse. They're over there getting shot, blown up, dying in friendly fire incidents, in car accidents, committing suicide, dying of disease and heat strokes. And that doesn't even count over a thousand troops that have been "wounded". Many of these men and women have lost their arms, their legs, are badly burned, lost their vision, have become paralyzed, and more. They are the forgotten casualties, chalked up to "just wounded" and cast out of mind almost immediately.
They deserve better, but there's no relief in sight.
Fox Drops Its Laughable Lawsuit Against Al Franken
Saying "This is an easy case," a federal judge ruled Friday against Fox News in its lawsuit asserting that a book by liberal satirist Al Franken violates its trademarked slogan, "fair and balanced." U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, after listening to about half an hour of oral arguments, said the lawsuit was "wholly without merit, both factually and legally."
This lawsuit was laughable on so many fronts. First of all, Fox News is "fair and balanced" the way Roseanne Barr is pretty and thin. Second of all, Al Franken couldn't buy publicity like this. His book, "LIES and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" shot up the bestseller list before it even hit store shelves and he could have never done it without the help of Bill O'Reilly and Fox. Third, with their contention that having Bill O'Reilly's picture on the cover of the book (next to the word LIES) would confuse consumers, they seemed to be saying their viewers were morons. "I don't know if Fox is arguing that its viewers are less sophisticated than those who would buy Mr. Franken's book," Chin said in court. "But either way, I think we are talking about relatively sophisticated consumers here."
Franken reacted to the development with his characteristic humor. "I'm a little disappointed," he told CNN. "I had hoped they would keep it going a few more news cycles... It was such a stupid lawsuit."
Reality TV: The Restaurant
Did anyone catch this show last week? The one that featured the waiter named Pete who wants to be a stand-up comic? If you missed it, let me fill you in... He's in New York City, NY, and he goes up on stage to do a four-minute set. It's apparently his first time doing stand up.
So he gets in front of this crowd of New Yorkers, and basically says, "You know what I love? Terrorists!" Of course, the crowd immediately starts booing, but he holds up his hands and says, "Hold up, hold up, yo. Let me finish. I especially love it when terrorists take responsibility for their bombings. It's like a shout out. 'Yeah, I did it. Wazzup?' Like in hip-hop."
He's immediately booed off the stage, and the whole time he's saying, "You guys are brutal, I can't believe how brutal you guys are..."
He gets back to the restaurant and talks about how traumatic the experience was and tries to figure out what went wrong. Finally, he comes up with the answer. "I guess it was just a bad audience."
No, you f*ckin' moron! You're a bad comedian, with bad jokes, and you forgot the number one rule of comedy: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. Less than two years ago New York City was hit by the worst terrorist attack on domestic soil that we've ever had. And this schmuck is making jokes about what he "loves" about terrorists!
That's like standing up in front of a bunch of Jewish people and saying, "You know who I love? Hitler! Hear me out! I especially love Hitler's DEATH CAMPS! What's with this lousy crowd, anyway?"
Even LONGER Tours of Duty in Iraq?
If the prediction is accurate, as many as 45,000 soldiers would have to double up. Some of the second tours would be for six months, but those in Iraq and Korea could require a second full year during which soldiers would be separated from their families. An officer says the Army would attempt to allow troops rotating home to have at least three months before heading back for a second overseas tour.
This is going to cause some MAJOR morale issues. I cannot imagine what it's like to be standing outside at checkpoints in the middle of the desert in 120 degree heat with full combat gear on, constantly aware that an average of two US soldiers are getting killed every day and knowing you could be separated from your family for EVEN LONGER.
When protestors marched against this war, a lot of people got really mad and held pro-war rallies and yelled at the protestors to "SUPPORT THE TROOPS." Now, the Bush administration is keeping them over there undersupported, doubling their tours of duty and pushing to slash their "imminent danger pay" and "family separation allowance" by $225 a month. So if "supporting our troops" means putting them in harms way, keeping them away from their families and reducing their pay, then it looks like the Republicans are supporting them a lot better than the Democrats ever could.
Saying "This is an easy case," a federal judge ruled Friday against Fox News in its lawsuit asserting that a book by liberal satirist Al Franken violates its trademarked slogan, "fair and balanced." U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, after listening to about half an hour of oral arguments, said the lawsuit was "wholly without merit, both factually and legally."
This lawsuit was laughable on so many fronts. First of all, Fox News is "fair and balanced" the way Roseanne Barr is pretty and thin. Second of all, Al Franken couldn't buy publicity like this. His book, "LIES and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" shot up the bestseller list before it even hit store shelves and he could have never done it without the help of Bill O'Reilly and Fox. Third, with their contention that having Bill O'Reilly's picture on the cover of the book (next to the word LIES) would confuse consumers, they seemed to be saying their viewers were morons. "I don't know if Fox is arguing that its viewers are less sophisticated than those who would buy Mr. Franken's book," Chin said in court. "But either way, I think we are talking about relatively sophisticated consumers here."
Franken reacted to the development with his characteristic humor. "I'm a little disappointed," he told CNN. "I had hoped they would keep it going a few more news cycles... It was such a stupid lawsuit."
Reality TV: The Restaurant
Did anyone catch this show last week? The one that featured the waiter named Pete who wants to be a stand-up comic? If you missed it, let me fill you in... He's in New York City, NY, and he goes up on stage to do a four-minute set. It's apparently his first time doing stand up.
So he gets in front of this crowd of New Yorkers, and basically says, "You know what I love? Terrorists!" Of course, the crowd immediately starts booing, but he holds up his hands and says, "Hold up, hold up, yo. Let me finish. I especially love it when terrorists take responsibility for their bombings. It's like a shout out. 'Yeah, I did it. Wazzup?' Like in hip-hop."
He's immediately booed off the stage, and the whole time he's saying, "You guys are brutal, I can't believe how brutal you guys are..."
He gets back to the restaurant and talks about how traumatic the experience was and tries to figure out what went wrong. Finally, he comes up with the answer. "I guess it was just a bad audience."
No, you f*ckin' moron! You're a bad comedian, with bad jokes, and you forgot the number one rule of comedy: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. Less than two years ago New York City was hit by the worst terrorist attack on domestic soil that we've ever had. And this schmuck is making jokes about what he "loves" about terrorists!
That's like standing up in front of a bunch of Jewish people and saying, "You know who I love? Hitler! Hear me out! I especially love Hitler's DEATH CAMPS! What's with this lousy crowd, anyway?"
Even LONGER Tours of Duty in Iraq?
If the prediction is accurate, as many as 45,000 soldiers would have to double up. Some of the second tours would be for six months, but those in Iraq and Korea could require a second full year during which soldiers would be separated from their families. An officer says the Army would attempt to allow troops rotating home to have at least three months before heading back for a second overseas tour.
This is going to cause some MAJOR morale issues. I cannot imagine what it's like to be standing outside at checkpoints in the middle of the desert in 120 degree heat with full combat gear on, constantly aware that an average of two US soldiers are getting killed every day and knowing you could be separated from your family for EVEN LONGER.
When protestors marched against this war, a lot of people got really mad and held pro-war rallies and yelled at the protestors to "SUPPORT THE TROOPS." Now, the Bush administration is keeping them over there undersupported, doubling their tours of duty and pushing to slash their "imminent danger pay" and "family separation allowance" by $225 a month. So if "supporting our troops" means putting them in harms way, keeping them away from their families and reducing their pay, then it looks like the Republicans are supporting them a lot better than the Democrats ever could.
Monday, August 25, 2003
Vegas, baby! Vegas!
That's right... this Thursday morning, my fiance and I are heading to Las Vegas, NV for some shows, some sightseeing, and a little gambling! It will be my first time in Sin City, so I plan to indulge.
Family trips and vacations were a little... different... for me when I was growing up. While many of my friends from school were going to Disneyworld, Cancun, the Bahamas, New York City, and Europe, my parents would pack us all up and drive us across the country to visit relatives.
Along the way, we would stop at every single little tourist trap on the map. My friends would see the Statue of Liberty, Miami Beach, the canals of Venice. I would see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, a building apparently made completely out of corn and corn products. My friends would be checking out the Eiffel Tower or Universal Studios. My parents would be dragging me through Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska... probably three of the flattest and most boring pieces of land in the world.
Las Vegas will be a bit different, though. First of all, it's the first destination where my friends actually envy me. They didn't really care when my parents took me to the Wisconsin Dells, whatever the hell those were, but they all wish that they could go to Vegas, too.
It'll also be my first time on a plane, so hopefully we don't crash. I think if the plane crashed the very first time I ever flew, that I would probably be scared off flying forever and wouldn't ever want to get on another plane. So wish me luck.
Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility for Blackout?
The statement, which Al-Hayat obtained from the website of the International Islamic Media Center, didn't specify the way the alleged sabotage was carried out. The communique read: "let the criminal Bush and his gang know that the punishment is the result of the action, the soldiers of God cut the power on these cities, they darkened the lives of the Americans as these criminals blackened the lives of the Muslim people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.
I wouldn't be surprised if this were true. I live in Michigan, so I was affected by the blackout, but we really escaped the worst of it. Both where I work and where I live, the power only fluctuated for a minute or two and then everything was fine. At the time, my mom was checking out the news where all the media pundits were speculating that it was a terrorist attack.
My mom's pretty easy to freak out, so of course she was hysterical. At the time, I didn't think it was terrorism, because I didn't really see what was in it for them. I figured, with all those New Yorkers flooding the streets, if Al Qaeda was behind this, they would use this prime opportunity to inflict some major civilian damage, but they didn't.
"[S]even major airports stopped working, which is a strike to airlines companies; nine nuclear reactors broke down, something that never happened before, and this is considered as a major economic hit for the nine reactors in the states of New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan. Means of transportation broke down: trains, cars and trucks, which resulted in great losses. The Internet stopped, leading to a freeze in trade transactions. The international banks headquartered in New York closed, not to mention the great losses incurred by the insurance companies, and the massive deployment of the police and security forces."
The communique mentioned that some economists said the blackout in the U.S. and Canada would cost the U.S. Treasury no less than ten billion U.S. dollars...
This would answer the question of what was in it for them. So much of our daily lives, let alone our economy, is dependent on electricity. Without electricity, we can't take the subway to work, or check our stocks online, or prepare a presentation for the board, or get money out of an ATM, or use our air conditioning or fans, or make a piece of toast or flush our toilets. There were lines at the gas stations two hours long in some places, and people were getting pissed off and unruly because some stores had sold out of ICE.
Terrorist attack or not, the blackout did have a pretty damaging effect on the United States. It's interesting that while Al Qaeda is taking responsibility for this, George W. Bush took time out of his fundraiser to insist he was certain that terrorism was in no way involved. I find that more than a little odd. Another interesting thing to note is that many Iraqis have been living without electricity for several months. No air conditioning in triple-digit heat, no lights, no television, no refrigerators. The power goes out for a day or two here, and it's a national crisis. The power's out for four months in Iraq, and we can't understand why the Iraqis are so pissed off at us.
DJ Site: Giving Out YOUR Number?
Thread Started by HPNOTIQ on 08/25/03
If a woman refused to give her number but asked for yours instead..Would you give it?
There's absolutely nothing to lose by giving out your number. You ask a girl for her number, and she doesn't want to give it to you for whatever reason. So then she asks for yours instead. If you say yes, she may call you, and something may come of it. And if she calls you, that will definitely tell you she was interested enough to put some effort into it. If she doesn't call you, who cares?
But what can you possibly gain by not giving a girl your phone number when she asks for it?
I think a lot of guys here wouldn't give their phone numbers because they don't want to face overt rejection. If they don't give their number, then the girl didn't call because he didn't give her his number. But if he DOES give her number, and she didn't call, it's because she's rejecting him.
Wesley Clark for President
In a few short weeks, General Wesley Clark is expected to announce that he is running for President of the United States. He is by far the most qualified candidate for the job.
He's a 33-year military veteran, a 4-star general, and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Commander in Chief of the United States European Command. He's a Vietnam veteran and earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He has received honorary Knighthoods from the British and Dutch governments and was made a commander of the French Legion of Honor. In August 2000, General Clark was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
He graduated first in his class at West Point, class of 1966. He also studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar with a Master's Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
In the private sector, General Clark serves as the chairman and CEO of his strategic advisory and consulting firm, Wesley K. Clark & Associates, has served as a public speaker and commentator for CNN, is the author of "Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat" (Public Affairs, New York, NY, 2001), which was a best seller, and was a consultant and Managing Director of Stephens, Inc. as an investment banker.
This is the guy who can put this country back on course. I urge you to take a look at General Clark and consider supporting him for President of the United States.
- Gio
That's right... this Thursday morning, my fiance and I are heading to Las Vegas, NV for some shows, some sightseeing, and a little gambling! It will be my first time in Sin City, so I plan to indulge.
Family trips and vacations were a little... different... for me when I was growing up. While many of my friends from school were going to Disneyworld, Cancun, the Bahamas, New York City, and Europe, my parents would pack us all up and drive us across the country to visit relatives.
Along the way, we would stop at every single little tourist trap on the map. My friends would see the Statue of Liberty, Miami Beach, the canals of Venice. I would see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, a building apparently made completely out of corn and corn products. My friends would be checking out the Eiffel Tower or Universal Studios. My parents would be dragging me through Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska... probably three of the flattest and most boring pieces of land in the world.
Las Vegas will be a bit different, though. First of all, it's the first destination where my friends actually envy me. They didn't really care when my parents took me to the Wisconsin Dells, whatever the hell those were, but they all wish that they could go to Vegas, too.
It'll also be my first time on a plane, so hopefully we don't crash. I think if the plane crashed the very first time I ever flew, that I would probably be scared off flying forever and wouldn't ever want to get on another plane. So wish me luck.
Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility for Blackout?
The statement, which Al-Hayat obtained from the website of the International Islamic Media Center, didn't specify the way the alleged sabotage was carried out. The communique read: "let the criminal Bush and his gang know that the punishment is the result of the action, the soldiers of God cut the power on these cities, they darkened the lives of the Americans as these criminals blackened the lives of the Muslim people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.
I wouldn't be surprised if this were true. I live in Michigan, so I was affected by the blackout, but we really escaped the worst of it. Both where I work and where I live, the power only fluctuated for a minute or two and then everything was fine. At the time, my mom was checking out the news where all the media pundits were speculating that it was a terrorist attack.
My mom's pretty easy to freak out, so of course she was hysterical. At the time, I didn't think it was terrorism, because I didn't really see what was in it for them. I figured, with all those New Yorkers flooding the streets, if Al Qaeda was behind this, they would use this prime opportunity to inflict some major civilian damage, but they didn't.
"[S]even major airports stopped working, which is a strike to airlines companies; nine nuclear reactors broke down, something that never happened before, and this is considered as a major economic hit for the nine reactors in the states of New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Michigan. Means of transportation broke down: trains, cars and trucks, which resulted in great losses. The Internet stopped, leading to a freeze in trade transactions. The international banks headquartered in New York closed, not to mention the great losses incurred by the insurance companies, and the massive deployment of the police and security forces."
The communique mentioned that some economists said the blackout in the U.S. and Canada would cost the U.S. Treasury no less than ten billion U.S. dollars...
This would answer the question of what was in it for them. So much of our daily lives, let alone our economy, is dependent on electricity. Without electricity, we can't take the subway to work, or check our stocks online, or prepare a presentation for the board, or get money out of an ATM, or use our air conditioning or fans, or make a piece of toast or flush our toilets. There were lines at the gas stations two hours long in some places, and people were getting pissed off and unruly because some stores had sold out of ICE.
Terrorist attack or not, the blackout did have a pretty damaging effect on the United States. It's interesting that while Al Qaeda is taking responsibility for this, George W. Bush took time out of his fundraiser to insist he was certain that terrorism was in no way involved. I find that more than a little odd. Another interesting thing to note is that many Iraqis have been living without electricity for several months. No air conditioning in triple-digit heat, no lights, no television, no refrigerators. The power goes out for a day or two here, and it's a national crisis. The power's out for four months in Iraq, and we can't understand why the Iraqis are so pissed off at us.
DJ Site: Giving Out YOUR Number?
Thread Started by HPNOTIQ on 08/25/03
If a woman refused to give her number but asked for yours instead..Would you give it?
There's absolutely nothing to lose by giving out your number. You ask a girl for her number, and she doesn't want to give it to you for whatever reason. So then she asks for yours instead. If you say yes, she may call you, and something may come of it. And if she calls you, that will definitely tell you she was interested enough to put some effort into it. If she doesn't call you, who cares?
But what can you possibly gain by not giving a girl your phone number when she asks for it?
I think a lot of guys here wouldn't give their phone numbers because they don't want to face overt rejection. If they don't give their number, then the girl didn't call because he didn't give her his number. But if he DOES give her number, and she didn't call, it's because she's rejecting him.
Wesley Clark for President
In a few short weeks, General Wesley Clark is expected to announce that he is running for President of the United States. He is by far the most qualified candidate for the job.
He's a 33-year military veteran, a 4-star general, and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Commander in Chief of the United States European Command. He's a Vietnam veteran and earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He has received honorary Knighthoods from the British and Dutch governments and was made a commander of the French Legion of Honor. In August 2000, General Clark was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
He graduated first in his class at West Point, class of 1966. He also studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar with a Master's Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
In the private sector, General Clark serves as the chairman and CEO of his strategic advisory and consulting firm, Wesley K. Clark & Associates, has served as a public speaker and commentator for CNN, is the author of "Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Future of Combat" (Public Affairs, New York, NY, 2001), which was a best seller, and was a consultant and Managing Director of Stephens, Inc. as an investment banker.
This is the guy who can put this country back on course. I urge you to take a look at General Clark and consider supporting him for President of the United States.
- Gio
