Guard Dog

Buccaneers, Dolphins, and Jaguars all lost. And lost ugly at that. And the Gators had 4 big injuries on a throw away game against Troy. And Tennessee is looming large next week. What an all around rotten weekend.

Azarkon that was the most thoughtful and intelligent post I've read on this board in a long time. And I agree 100%. The smart thing to have done (and I've said this before) would have been to break Iraq into three separate countries such that would each encapsulate the three distinct ethnic/religious groups. Iraq was itself a construct of a post WWI mandate granting lands from the defeated Ottoman Empire to Britain. Only strong military force has kept it whole, first the British, then the Hashemites, then Saddam. As a rule, nation states with divided ethnic/language/religious/ loyalties and no real (or contrived) national identity do not survive on their own accord. Look at what happened after the USSR fell.

Actually, a fun thing to do would be to have a keg party with a keg of NA beer, but don't tell anyone its NA. Then see who acts drunk.

Wait a sec... The Brits eat Cucumber Sanwiches? EEWWW. I could almost forgive the warm beer but that? But seriously, they are only pulling out of Basra. Not out of Iraq all together. But I expect that is beginning to happen too. Next month the US Commander Gen Patreus is supposed to reccomend force reductions as the US and British forces begins to assume an advisory role. It is almost over.

Actually it was based on the college experience of one of the creators of MAD. I don't know, I wouldn't say it was too unrealistic. Hmm, our house was always a mess, there was a lot of parties, there was a Belushi type guy who never seemed to actually go to class, we had a dean who was always trying to shut us down...yep, Animal House. "Over!? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" "Germans...?" "Forget it he's rolling" Classic!

I agree with Monte. It sounds like what you need is a nice long war. If you are friendly with Portugal get them to help you attack Spain. Or vice versa. The only thing I disliked about playing England was when you sent a crusade it had a hell of a long way to go to get to palestine and tropps would desert every turn. The army that leave England is not the same one that arrives in Jerusalem. Do you take an overland or sea route? Going around the Iberian Peninsula and past the pillars of Heracles or taking Barbarossa's route through Byzantium are considered to be the non-direct path to the Holy Land and will make your crusaders impatient. What you want to do (after you cross the Channel) is cut across mainland Europe and head straight for Italy towards Naples. Then you want to hop on a boat (preferably fleet of boats to protect against Pirates) and make your way across the sea to the soon-to-be Outremer. Good idea. Usually I go via the Straits of Gibralter then direct across the Med. I like your idea better. Plus most of the actual crusaders left via Marsellies, so it is historically accurate as well. In my last game the Danes had control of Jerusalem. Talk about standing history on it's head.

I agree with Monte. It sounds like what you need is a nice long war. If you are friendly with Portugal get them to help you attack Spain. Or vice versa. The only thing I disliked about playing England was when you sent a crusade it had a hell of a long way to go to get to palestine and tropps would desert every turn. The army that leave England is not the same one that arrives in Jerusalem.

I run 2-3 times a week. Usually I go 1-2 miles if I have a dog with me. If I don't I ususally go 2. Plus I am going to enter the Miami Dade Run For The Animals 10k later next month. The money goes to benefit the Miami Dade Rescue Railroad and te Dade Humane Society. But I never time myself. Since I left the military I really have not cared how fast I could run. I think usually I run 10 min miles. But I know I could do it faster. But it's not a race.

I was a little surprised to see the Jags cut Byron Leftwich. I guess they think Garrard can handle the job. I'm not so sure. Here are the final roster cuts made today. Not too many surpises. Final Cut Down Day

It's only your fourth day there Pixies... a little early to get discouraged.

Slightly OT here. But did anyone catch the Michigan Appalachian State game? I listened to the second half on my Sirius. Wow, talk about an upset.

I read on the TW forums that one of the goals for Empires was to create a much more useful and complex diplomacy segment to the game. I hope they pull that off. Given the near parity of military power between the great continental powers of the time period, the need a good diplomacy engine to give the game even a little historical credibility. The fight first ask questions later of RTW would not make sense in 1800's Europe. Monte/Leferd have you tried the Crusades campaign yet? That was the one I was most interested in.

Maybe it's the size of the opening. Cats are a little funny about some things. They are fearless at things they should be afraid of and intimidated by the most innocuous things. One of my dogs still has not figured out the front door and back door lead to the same house. He will only go in the door he went out of even if both are open.

i'm done with classwork, yay! only the dissertation to work on. however, i do work 50 hours/week on my job, so finding time to really concentrate on my studies, which are nearly identical to what i do at work, is difficult. spending all day working through equations, then coming home to derive even more leaves me mentally exhausted. way cool. not so for mine, though i was paid for my MS thesis. i was only 1/4 time, however, but that was still $3k/semester. in spite of the fact i think graduate studies are inherently easier, i still think my undergraduate days were much more fun. hopefully you're going away to school, pixies. your only real responsibilities will be to yourself, i.e. learning, which is the closest you'll get to perpetual vacation the rest of your life. taks $3k per semester is about one class. But I guess it's better than nothing. What EE discipline did you pick for your MS?

There seems to be a few too many unknowns to be so excited at this point. For them to judge the speed of the first flare to be faster the second assumes: 1) That there were emitted simultaneously 2) That they were emitted from the exact same point. I'm not an astronomer but it seems to me that it is impossible to eliminate doubt on those two points. Even the article's update confirmed they can not rule out an event at the source of emission to explain the difference. But if it turns out to be true I guess we will all have to go back to school.

I am very curious to hear what you think of that XP Monte. I have sunk countless hours into MTW2 but to tell the truth it has never appealed to me as much as RTW did. But I am VERY psyched about Empire TW coming out next year. And I'm with Hurlshot, if they were to remake Shogun I'd buy it is a second.

Probably can. The first thing I teach them is not to fight. Desi was easy. She is easily the smartest dog I've ever known. Sammi, has been a lot tougher. It took a few weeks just to get her to stop attacking me. She is pretty calm now.

My dogs playing From left to right: Cosmo (rescued from Broward Animal Control) Zoe (Katrina Rescue) Gator (Broward again), Ollie (stray in Palm Beach), Macy (found wandering downtown Ft Lauderdale), Cheyenne (found wandering on the side of I-95 in Ft Lauderdale), Tommy (Ollie's brother, found together) and Desiree (rescued from a fighting ring in the Micosookie Reservation). And my avatar is Sammi. She was rescued from a fighting operation in Miami last year. She was in bad shape when I got her. Now she is doing great and is finally losing her aggression.

Ditto what Taks Meta and Sand said. I had that same problem with Oblivion and my new NVIDIA 8800. I replaced the 400W PS with a 600W and its been fine ever since.

Good thing we are around. Without us lice and roaches will go extinct and feral cats will take over. BTW, that part about birds not nesting in radio towers is BS and I can tell you that for a fact. That tower light does not bother them in the least.

The country was founded on the principles of Federalisim. That means the government with the most power over your life should be the one that is closest to you and the one you have the most influence over. To my thinking that is the State government. Since the days of FDR the federal government has been usurping more and more power that the 10th amendment forbids it to have. And nothing is ever done about it because it would be politically unpopular. I have no problem with social welfare per se but I do have a problem when Uncle Sam asks me to ante up my taxes to pay for things like Welfare, Food Stamps, etc. The constitution does not empower the federal government to do these things. If the State of Florida asked me to pay for it because there was no such federal program I would not have a problem with it. To quote Reagan "The government that can do anything for you can also take everything from you." Amen to that. Like I said, it is two equally bad choices.

In my Calc 1 & 2 classes I only showed up on test days and got an A in both of them. But i worked full time and earned my degree at night so I had an excuse! I also did that in my DC Circuits I class and even though I had an average test score of 97% over the three tests and final i got a B for the class because the instructor gave 10% of the final grade based on "class participation". He gave me a 0 on that and I finished the class with an 87. I think that is one of the reasons I hated most of my instructors. Plus I had a feeling they did not have a real understanding of what they were teaching beyond an academic sense.

I could not care less what his sexual preference is Mkreku. What really galls me is that he tried to use his status as a senator to bully his way out of trouble. Thinking about US politics is really discouraging right now. I can't vote for Democrats because they are socialists and they are the opposite of every value this country was founded on. I can't vote for Republicans because they are corruptred down to their very core. The Libertarians cannot mount an effective campaign because they can't get past the whole drug thing. The Greens are communists. No one has ever heard of the Constitution party. The Reform party died as soon as it started. No matter where you turn you are screwed. That is why we end up voting for the candidates who scare us the least.

I don't have the link but I read on CNN.com while he was being arrested he pulled his senate ID and told the cops "What do you think of that?" I guess he thought that would get him out of it. That really galls me. As if elected office came with a "get-out-of-jail-free card". And you guys wonder why I'm in favor of term limits.