JoshK

I spent a day and a half in wenatchee a few years ago when snocrummie and stevens were both closed for nearly 48 horus. I imagine snocrummie getting closed costs a shitload because Seattle/Tacoma is a huge port, and I-90 is the largest highway, by far, heading back east. Of course, I think white pass opened much quicker than the other two, but I decided missing a day of work being stranded in wenatchee was better than driving around.

LOL...a submarine!? no shit!? hehe...portland's cool, but I wouldn't even really classify seattle as a "big city" even though it's much larger than portland. chicago, NYC, san fran...I think of those as big cities. I kinda tend to think of them having a metro feel that only a really big city has. Have you ever lived anywhere else? Seattle is a big ass city bro. Its way more urban and metro than a lot of other cities you probably consider big. Yeah man, and I dig Seattle. I don't get off my lazy ass and move for a reason. It is certainly one hellavu lot bigger and more metro feeling than portland, that's for sure. I dunno tho, when I think of really big cities, truly world class citys, I basically think of like NYC, London, Paris...shit like that. Maybe I'm confused and they seem all fancy since I am seeing them from the tourist point of view. I guess somebody could come here and say the same thing and I'd never know it. One thing is for sure...it doesn't just have to do with population. Most of my family lives in phoenix, which while large by population standards, is a shithole deluxe. On a related note, has anybody ever noticed that vancouver, B.C. is a very unusal city? Unlike your standard cities which seem to follow a very similar model: downtown financial district, hotel district, outlying areas, etc...vancouver seems to be a very huge condo city. It doesn't really have a concentrated downtown with large skyscrapers and financial buildings, but has more highrise condos and the like spread around the city. I noticed this last time I was up there...

wirlwind, you may want to consult a map of alberta, canada....

Klenke, I was just in the ballard fred meyer about 30 minutes ago. As of today or a few days ago they have a large guinness display setup near the south entrance. In any event, they had the actual guinness glasses for sale at $1.99 each. there were a ton of them there tonight.

LOL...a submarine!? no shit!? hehe...portland's cool, but I wouldn't even really classify seattle as a "big city" even though it's much larger than portland. chicago, NYC, san fran...I think of those as big cities. I kinda tend to think of them having a metro feel that only a really big city has.

Vancouver *is* a great city tho. I really wouldn't mind living there some day.

What list was this dru? I've found for the most part these lists to be crap. I saw one the other day that listed Portland as the best "big city." I don't think it's a stretch to say that anybody who is looking for big city life is going to find Portland a little smallish.

j_b, I'm curious where they get the numbers for the artcile you posted wrt/ UN dues. Based on that chart that I posted the EU contries in the top 20 don't add up to much more than half of the U.S. GNP. I'd be surprised if the rest of the relatively small EU countries make up much of that difference.

In case anybody is interested... According to figures published in the Financial Review today, these are the largest 15 economies, as measured by their Gross Domestic Product in US dollars: 1 USA 10,208 2 Japan 4,149 3 Germany 1,847 4 United Kingdom 1,424 5 France 1,307 6 China (exc.HK) 1,159 7 Italy 1,089 8 Canada 700 9 Mexico 618 10 Spain 582 11 Brazil 504 12 India 481 13 Korea 422 14 Netherlands 380 15 Australia 357 16 Russian Federation 310 17 Taiwan 282 18 Argentina 269 19 Switzerland 247 20 Belgium 227 This is as of Jan 7, 2003

About France? I have no problem with the french people. I doubt the majority of the are "ungreatful" or "US haters" or whatever. I hate Chirac however. I hate GWB too. What's your point? I can't voice opposition on the guy's politics?

The french (and the germans) are the first proponents of Europe, an economic entity which at the present is bigger than us. An independent, economically mature europe would be a serious challenge to our current monopoly on power. That's the real reason. The media version is they are ungrateful. Last time I checked the US economy is *significantly* larger than the combined EU economies. A mature and powerful Europe can only help the US and it's economy, IMHO. Whether GWB knows this or not is beyond me. Remember, the US used to be the small one compared to Europe and a strong US has certainly helped Europe a great deal as well. The fact sitting beneath all of this is that oil, and the middle east, are a problem for both Europe and the US. The bickering among GWB and half of Europe helps nobody

LOL...I *wish* Milosh was my avatar! He is one of the funniest in a while...

josh josh josh, the french are not out to diminish american power, the French are out to PROTECT THEIR INVESTMENT.... Same thing ...it's still not a "moral" reason for no war.

Look, I didn't say the french were wrong in saying we shouldn't go to far. For the millionth time, I DONT THINK WE SHOULD GO TO WAR WITH IRAQ EITHER! I also never stated that the french's motives were "evil." All I stated is that it pisses me off that the french are playing their reasons off as moral and pure and passive. In reality the only reason the french don't want a war is because it further secures the U.S. position as a superpower and the french position as an onlooker.

Nice way to change my words...I'm going to assum you did it for effect. I never said the U.S. was taking a moral stand. What's the old saying, two wrongs don't make a right? The U.S. may be wrong here, but the worthless french are too.

It's even easier for France...their interests are much better served by "standing up" to the U.S. Like france really gives a shit what happens in Iraq. Chirac is a worthless asshole. Like I said, I am anti iraq-war, but I'm not dumb enough to blindly wave the french flag because they are "standing up to george bush." To claim this is some moral stand by the french is a joke.

holy crap that is funny...Dave, send that to dale, he'll get a kick out of that!

LOL

We miss you! Please come back...

France's motives for oposing the war in Iraq are complete bullshit. While I am not behind this war for the reasons that george W and friends have given, France's opposition is just as suspect. It boils down to france's importance in the world today, which, in short, is very little. They have never liked the U.S. as a world power and never will. The are simply opposing the "do what we need to do" U.S. will in this situation. For this and other reasons, france can suck my

HAHAH...the bouncing missile is priceless!

My roommate's dad used to work at pyramid, thus we seem to have a lifetime supply of those. They are fairly cheap, however, so thye do seem to break fairly often.

Ok, that's odd, more people consider the devil real than god? It seems like the tw would go hand and hand, or at least more people would believe in god. I wonder, however, if by "god created the universe" than are referring to adam & eve. Because, while adam & eve is certainly bullshit, IMHO, I don't think evolution and god creating the universe nescessarily go against each other. In any event, the most important statistic is 95% of the people in this country are idiots, so I guess that nullifies the rest of the statistics.

Hehe... Salomon skis suck anyway.