chelle

Thanks. The files were in the "documents & settings" folder and I thought it said temporary internet files. The scan completed after an hour and the system got a clean bill of health. I still don't think I need that many temp files clogging up my hard drive... I have XP so I can't "see" anything in the system folder.

So glad you have time to google Dru. I stand corrected.

Josh. You flirt with danger and sometimes it bites you on the ass. There's no winning that debate because when it happens you'll say "See, I told you..." and until then "Wait and see, it'll happen." I'm pretty sure he's the guy who snowboarded the cable route on half dome and stuck it without going over the edge. That at a minimum deserves some respect, not your spray flicking attitude.

If I told Explorer to "delete temporary files" yesterday...how can I still have over 30K files that my virus scan software is trying to sort through? Scanning my computer is taking f'ing forever!

Here's a portion of an article on the issue in the current Economist. Leaders: Just the facts; The WMD inquiries; London: Feb 7, 2004. pg. 13 "The inquiries can, however, get to the bottom of what British and American spies and politicians knew (or thought they knew) about Iraq's WMD and terrorist connections. David Kay, the ex-weapons inspector who forced a probe on Mr Bush, who in turn thrust one upon Mr Blair, told Congress that Iraq was indeed a danger. The spies may yet turn out to have done a better job in 2003 than in 1991, when they underestimated Mr Hussein's nuclear progress. But given the apparent absence of any actual WMD in Iraq, the new panels must ascertain where the CIA, MI6 and other agencies went wrong. Did they invest too little in on-the-ground agents--a conclusion reached in a different context by a congressional inquiry into September 11th? After the UN inspectors left Iraq, did they wrongly extrapolate from old information? Were they over-reliant on defectors, exiles and inconclusive satellite images? Did senior officials gloss over uncertainty, or quail in the face of demanding politicians? As for those politicians: when they dragged intelligence into the light, did they exaggerate, whether by omission of caveats and provisos or otherwise? We think they did--and that Vice-President Dick Cheney has, reprehensibly, continued to do so until very recently. But only up to a point: even the dissident voices within intelligence circles say only that the two governments firmed-up analysts' conclusions, not that they made them up altogether. In particular, did Mr Bush's team allege a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda that the data didn't substantiate? Did they lean on the spies to come up with the "right" answers? Some say they did; others, including Mr Kay, say they didn't. If he is right, why did some American assessments of the Iraqi threat become gloomier, even, as it now appears, as the sources for those assessments became weaker? These are the questions that can and should be answered. That will require the Bush administration to co-operate more fulsomely with the new panel than with the one investigating September 11th."

I've rapped on a 5.5mm spectra cord before. Just use an extra biner like RBW suggested. I did the redirect and it worked fine. You can also use it to do full single raps if you use the method that's been discussed on this site before to rig the ropes. It's a lightweight second rope for raping if you need one. (expensive but lightweight)

Now you just have to figure out your spring road trip schedule. Unemployment is a good time to figure out what to do for your next career. Hope you got a decent severance.

Bush's new budget proposal

Not going out on a big powder day and my second day of snowboarding. I could have avoided spraining my neck and I wouldn't have had to take 2 years off climbing and most everything else fun.

Hhmm. Maybe notorious "borrow the car for 24 hours" bandit stuck again. He just liked your CDs better than mine. Just kiddin 009. But

What about these new labs that they found in the past couple days. Apparently whatever checmical they are using can kill you if you inhale it.

CBS. Gollum was so enchanted by it he just wanted to gaze. Plus if he'd disappeared how could we have watched him fall and become part of the Mt. Doom stew.

Muffy, did you mean banking? Cause I think making cookies is pretty simple married or single. Bug - you are right that having grown up in the US I carry some judeochristian values in my world view. Some I like and others I have tried to rid myself of. As for being jaded on marriage (can't recall who said that and I'm too lazy to go back one page...) I am not jaded on marriage. I think it is a really good thing when done well. Mine wasn't done well and ended. That was my ex and my problem, not marriage per se. The failure mostly occured because we were too young and niaeve to truly understand what life long commitment meant, nor did we know who we were as individuals yet to commit ourselves to another person. Next time around I will be much wiser and understand the work and rewards more deeply.

Hhmm. Not sure to whom, but have a great birthday!

Wow, Jon. Thanks for that link. I find in pretty interesting that a reporter for the NewYorker can find enough sources to put together a well documented account of policy changes with respect to intelligence gathering and the circumvention of vetting "safety standards" by white house staff. It actually sounds like they set up their own intelligence analysis department with people too invested in a particular outcome deciding what was "good" and what was "bad" intelligence info. Yet at the same time Congress can't seem to get enough information on the issues to make a determination of whether there was underhandedness on the part of the white house or CIA leading up to 9/11 and the Iraq war.

No problem Moth...it was an interesting tangent.

Don't know if there should be a law to require state agencies to take Feng Shui into account in their buildings. But I think that they should respect other people's views of Feng Shui. When I lived in CA there was a Chinese business owner in a town in Marin who was a firm believer in Feng Shui. His business was successful for many years until the city decided to plan a tree at the edge of sidewalk directly in front of his door. He begged and pleaded with them to move the tree 3 feet to either side of the door, fearing it would kill his business. They refused because it wasn't in their plan. Well the guy's business went down hill quickly after that and he firmly believed it was because the tree blocked all chi from flowing into his business. He tried many fixes and his business started picking up again. But after 6 months was not as profitable as it had been before the tree was planted. I think he should have just replanted the tree one night and paid some fines.

Here's a couple.

An unmarked vehicle with no connections to TG.

in the US liberal press. Where's fairweather? Bush on WMD

I'm thinking that some of you should have thought to record your childhood entertainment/explorations and put out Jack Ass the movie back in the 70s. It is a wonder any of you made it.

About the separation of church and state...at least in Georgia. Pretty sad that those kids won't learn about some fairly basic concepts in biology. IMO this is just wrong! - - - - January 30, 2004 Georgia Takes on 'Evolution' By ANDREW JACOBS ATLANTA, Jan. 29 — A proposed set of guidelines for middle and high school science classes in Georgia has caused a furor after state education officials removed the word "evolution" and scaled back ideas about the age of Earth and the natural selection of species. Educators across the state said that the document, which was released on the Internet this month, was a veiled effort to bolster creationism and that it would leave the state's public school graduates at a disadvantage. "They've taken away a major component of biology and acted as if it doesn't exist," said David Bechler, who heads the biology department at Valdosta State University. "By doing this, we're leaving the public shortchanged of the knowledge they should have." Although education officials said the final version would not be binding on teachers, its contents will ultimately help shape achievement exams. And in a state where religion-based concepts of creation are widely held, many teachers said a curriculum without mentioning "evolution" would make it harder to broach the subject in the classroom. Georgia's schools superintendent, Kathy Cox, held a news conference near the Capitol on Thursday, a day after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published an article about the proposed changes. A handful of states already omit the word "evolution" from their teaching guidelines, and Ms. Cox called it "a buzz word that causes a lot of negative reaction." She added that people often associate it with "that monkeys-to-man sort of thing." Still, Ms. Cox, who was elected to the post in 2002, said the concept would be taught, as well as "emerging models of change" that challenge Darwin's theories. "Galileo was not considered reputable when he came out with his theory," she said. Much of the state's 800-page curriculum was adopted verbatim from the "Standards for Excellence in Education," an academic framework produced by the Council for Basic Education, a nonprofit group. But when it came to science, the Georgia Education Department omitted large chunks of material, including references to Earth's age and the concept that all organisms on Earth are related through common ancestry. "Evolution" was replaced with "changes over time," and in another phrase that referred to the "long history of the Earth," the authors removed the word "long." Many proponents of creationism say Earth is at most several thousand years old, based on a literal reading of the Bible. Sarah L. Pallas, an associate professor of biology at Georgia State University, said, "The point of these benchmarks is to prepare the American work force to be scientifically competitive." She said, "By removing the benchmarks that deal with evolutionary life, we don't have a chance of catching up to the rest of the world." The guidelines, which were adopted by a panel of 25 educators, will be officially adopted in 90 days, and Ms. Cox said the public could still influence the final document. "If the teachers and parents across the state say this isn't what we want," she said, "then we'll change it." In the past, Ms. Cox, has not masked her feelings on the matter of creationism versus evolution. During her run for office, Ms. Cox congratulated parents who wanted Christian notions of Earth and human creation to be taught in schools. "I'd leave the state out of it and would make sure teachers were well prepared to deal with competing theories," she said at a public debate. Educators say the current curriculum is weak in biology, leading to a high failure rate in the sciences among high school students across the state. Even those who do well in high school science are not necessarily proficient in the fundamentals of biology, astronomy and geology, say some educators. David Jackson, an associate professor at the University of Georgia who trains middle school science teachers, said about half the students entering his class each year had little knowledge of evolutionary theory. "In many cases, they've never been exposed to the basic facts about fossils and the universe," he said. "I think there's already formal and informal discouragements to teaching evolution in public school." The statewide dispute here follows a similar battle two years ago in Cobb County, a fast-growing suburb north of Atlanta. In that case, the Cobb County school board approved a policy to allow schools to teach "disputed views" on the origins of man, referring to creationism, although the decision was later softened by the schools superintendent, who instructed teachers to follow the state curriculum. Eric Meikle of the National Center for Science Education said several other states currently omit the word "evolution" from their science standards. In Alabama, the state board of education voted in 2001 to place disclaimers on biology textbooks to describe evolution as a controversial theory. "This kind of thing is happening all the time, in all parts of the country," Mr. Meikle said. Dr. Francisco J. Ayala, the author of a 1999 report by the National Academy of Sciences titled "Science and Creationism," vehemently opposes including the discussion of alternative ideas of species evolution. "Creation is not science, so it should not be taught in science class," said Dr. Ayala, a professor of genetics at the University of California at Irvine. "We don't teach astrology instead of astronomy or witchcraft practices instead of medicine." But Keith Delaplane, a professor of entomology at the University of Georgia, says the wholesale rejection of alternative theories of evolution is unscientific. "My opinion is that the very nature of science is openness to alternative explanations, even if those explanations go against the current majority," said Professor Delaplane, a proponent of intelligent-design theory, which questions the primacy of evolution's role in natural selection. "They deserve at least a fair hearing in the classroom, and right now they're being laughed out of the arena."

Wow!!! This thread went in so many unanticipated directions. It was an interesting read to see what people picked up on. Thanks for the entertainment. I thought the article was interesting because it was saying that committed but unmarried heterosexual couples are not on the radar screen in this "marriage protection" debate. And because at the end I thought the point about the fact that marriage status shouldn't really contribute to whether or not one is entitled to benefits or tax breaks from the gov't or private sector. It was an equal rights stance. And Bug - last I checked this country was founded on the basis of freedom from prosectution for being affiliated with a particular religion. I don't recall anything about being a Christian country. Contrary to what some politicians today want, we have a secular government and always have. This is why the founders were so clear in spelling out the separation of church and state.

I've always wondered why they didn't splint Joe's leg with the sleeping pad earlier. And I think that Joe lowering further into the crevasse to see if there was a way out or to hasten his burial was brilliant. And how could he have aided out with only one screw and one good leg to stand on? And on overhanging ice?

Anyonw who has read Simpson's books knows he was able to climb because he made it a priority not because he had money. He was on the "dole" most of the time.