taks

a friend of mine broke the same leg, in different places, twice this year. he came up to ski with me in march, hit a jump at breck but backed off right before he hit it and shot straight up, then straight back down on a table-top, shattering his knee and fibula/tibula. once he started walking again, he slipped in the kitchen and landed on the same knee, this time a compound fracture to his femur. the hardware from the first break prevented the flexibility of his leg from saving him the second time. lots of titanium in that guy now... hehe. he still swears he'll ski again next year, but he hasn't even walked without assistance in almost a year... taks

in fact, the blues held a 1-0 lead through the third period the other night then succumbed to a lapse that cost 4 goals (3 were in a quick run). they're a hockey team again, though they need to work on things. taks

oh, sorry dude, you're right. it might rip a hole in the fabric of space-time itself. good news everyone! we're going to... (futurama rip) taks

the media and associated activists would like us to think that, but really that's not that much of an issue. vietnam was MUCH bigger, and, the primary conflict never ended. i.e. we didn't "win the war but lose the aftermath" in vietnam... we never made it to the aftermath. taks

now THAT is a good idea. pathfinding is another threadable operation that should be considered. IIRC, pathfinding in ToEE was a serious detriment to all but the best of rigs. it consumes considerable resources. taks

yeah, my outer layer of calcium stands out against the remaining portion of my teeth worse now than ever. i no longer care (like i did when i was 16). if anyone were ever to ask "how do you feel about splotchy teeth" i'd respond with "how do you feel about needles injected directly into your gum and subsequent drilling on your teeth?" taks

true, but "illegal" only has meaning w.r.t. the US Constitution in the context that you're mentioning, guard dog. personally, i'm not a 100% fan of the war powers act, either. i think that was an unconstitutional relinquishment of powers by congress, but that's another story... taks

that's for sure. hopefully, once such "awareness" spreads to remote corners of the world, such whining will no longer be necessary. unfortunately, this won't happen till we have a much more homegeneous world, which will take quite some time (i'm thinking centuries). taks

yeah, i think i've heard that as well. i don't mind either way. i have a friend whos teeth have probably lost 1/3 of their length from abrasion. folks like you and i will not have to worry about that... taks

granite chompers, eh? they put so much flouride in our water in the US, plus daily brushing with flouride toothpaste (sometimes twice daily), it has the same effect. taks

the last time i saw either a dentist or orthodontist was... well... when i got my wisdom teeth pulled 20+ years ago. i have been fortunate. oh, the reason, btw, is that doctors in the late 60s early 70s handed out pencillin like candy every time a child ran a fever. this effects the development of your teeth. in some cases, such as with my two brothers, it made their teeth real soft and cavity prone. in others, such as with me, it caused an extra layer of calcium to be deposited on the teeth (literally, you can see it as splotches sort of). of course, as a result, my teeth are very hard and sort of brittle which means i have a bunch of chips in them. they're still as sharp as they were when they came in and no cavities, ever, to boot. apparently people get cavities all the time, and normal saliva eventually kills off the bacteria. since i have extra protection, none of these "mini-cavities" ever make it into the danger zone requiring treatment. at least, that's how the last dentist i visited it explained things... taks

exactly. when concerning matters of war, like it or not, personal beliefs regarding justifiability are immaterial. people such as sand/visceris/nomdujour hate all war, which is understandable, but then use such personal beliefs to find any reason to call any war "illegal" without any real basis in reality. war is bad, nasty and undesirable, but as long as there are a variety of diverse cultures and societies in the world, it will exist. taks

questions of the legality of the iraq war have always amused me. the US is not bound by any "international law" that says who we may or may not start a war with. furthermore, the concept of an "illegal" war is rather silly anyway. war is nothing more than one country being mad at another. japan felt justified in their attack on the US during WWII (based on a variety of slights) and the US response was likewise justifiable to the US. the simple act of saddam ordering his forces to fire on US planes is an "act of war" defined by the treaties he signed after the first invasion, so what constitutes a "legal" response? war. to think that war can be regulated in any fashion is naive at best. does a vote by a body of unelected officials somehow make a war "legal" in any way? taks

wow. that does look cool. it's like, you actually have to _solve_ a problem rather than just run around and _kill_ your problem! you know what would make a good game? the lost room. sci-fi left the show open to a series, too... taks

exactly why i'm happy with my 128 MB 6800 with extra pipes turned on... dragon age will probably be more "cutting edge" than what's out today, but that's over a year out so graphics will be cheaper by then. i've considered FO3, but i wasn't a fan of the first two (only managed a few hours with each) and the bethesda style of rpging is not really to my taste. horror games are the latest thing to pique my interest, and they will require better graphics... what is alan wake about? taks

i doubt it. usually it is one user one workstation, even if there are multiple cores running. use linux instead, no licensing issues at all! taks

oh, and i don't think there is any orthodontist that would advocate "avoiding" wisdom teeth issues over flat out yanking them. taks

i've heard of people getting their wisdom teeth in when they are in their 30s. they only become a pain if they are misaligned or your jaw is too small. not everyone has them, either. sort of a fluke of evolution not unlike the (presumably) useless appendix. taks

never a cavity here, either. with the sole exception of my wisdom teeth, every visit i've made to a hospital (for my own health) has been self inflicted through acts of sheer stupidity (read: drunkenness) or sports related (soccer is hard on ankels and knees). taks

they put me out with sodium brevital (similar to pentathol i assume). "count backwards from 100" the nurse said... "100, 99, 98, 97, why is the room spinning? 96, 9.." i replied. i woke up in recovery and attempted to charm said nurse while still in a drug induced stupor. needless to say, she rebuffed my efforts and made a few comments, with a smile, that i do not remember to this day. when i finally "came to," my mother was sitting there chuckling. i do not know what they asked me, and mom's not talking. taks

my teeth really didn't have a problem other than the fact that my jaw was too small to hold them. the bone ends almost immediately after my back molars now, even with the wisdom teeth gone. they were coming in under the back molars, pushing them out. it hurt, but was more of an uncomfortable feeling and chewing was difficult because i couldn't get my jaw completely down. taks

nope... it is oxycodone + acetaminophen. oxycodone is, essentially, morphine and acetaminophen is the active ingredient in tylenol. darvocet is technically a weaker version using something akin to codeine. codeine is what i have a reaction to. taks

first, 18 month "waiting list" to have your wisdom teeth removed? sheesh. second, i had mine removed about 20 years ago. they gave me darvocet, another brand name for percoset i believe, and i took it that afternoon once the novacaine wore off. the morphine made me jittery and uncomfortable, so i never took it again. i was fine the next day with a slight ache that lasted about 2 days. i'm surprised you're still hurting, JE. the hard part, btw, was smoking... for about 2 or 3 weeks i felt like i was pulling my gums out every time i took a drag. of course, it took about 2 years for the holes to completely fill in (with skin, not gunk). taks

walsignham, you can lead off by pimping your bootay as a test of the system. taks

not even bootay pimping? when color control is fading, either the electron gun, or the electronics that control it are failing. kalimeeri is right that it's probably not worth fixing. the cost would probably as much, if not more, than the cost of buying new (particularly a new CRT). taks