taks

i moved here from florida. for whatever reason, their sun is worse (oh, likely due to the fact that i'm 500 miles or so more north). either way, i almost always have a fairly solid tan on my face and arms. the rest of me is whiter than the snow that just fell, however! back in my surfing days, it was different... taks

sometimes intent is obvious. other times, when someone is attempting to pander to his constituency (which is what colrom was sort of referring to) by disguising his intent, you have to say to yourself "who cares?" if a politician wants to hate another person because of their culture/race/etc., vote him out of office or, worst case, move (that's the beauty of having 50 little experiments in democracy in the US). if a company regularly displays intent, or they repeatedly end up in ambiguous situations, don't work there and, don't buy their products. racism and prejudice are part of the human condition. we're born with a fear of what is different. not everyone is capable of overcoming this due to ignorance, upbringing, or whatever. none of this, however, is an excuse for the rampant overcompensation state we have allowed ourselves to fall into. taks

a rose is a rose... taks

colrom, i'll buy your restatement. i think you are viewing what i was referring to differently than i view it. i don't necessarily agree that "comments which are derogatory about Muslims are politically correct throughout the Western world," however. this may be true with some, but racism/prejudice is not solely a western problem (ask an indian what he thinks of a pakistani, for example). such things just get more attention in the western world as a result of politically correctness. my point about this, btw, and sole reason for mentioning PC in the first place, is that the western world (US in particular) has become so afraid of "hurting feelings" that they have allowed every misstatement whether intentional or otherwise, to become grounds for major litigation. furthermore, every perceived slight is taken to be the most extreme, even when its true intent was benign, or otherwise beneficial. it has been pushed to the point where, in this case, a company cannot dictate any rules of conduct for their employees without fear of a lawsuit. we forget that companies, even those that are so-called "public" (which is different that using the term public when referring to government), have rights too. they have a right to define their image, and if an employee does not like such definition, they have a right to leave (employees, OTOH, do not have a right to work there). companies also have a right to set minimum standards of performance, and a language teacher, no matter how many religions he/she is beholden to, simply cannot expect to hide his/her face when teaching students to speak. taks

well, as predicted it is all melting. it's still like 4-wheel terrain on all the side streets (i actually had fun driving home last night, and to work this morning). i was just outside for a quick smoke wearing a t-shirt. it's only 40 F here. gotta love the altitude and dry weather (i.e., even when it's cold, it does not "feel" cold). taks

at work, killing time, waiting another 20 minutes to go home. the roads are pretty clear now, and the snowing has stopped (can actually see the sky), so there won't be much fun 4-wheelin tonight. taks

The latest... From the article: i coulda made a bundle pulling cars out today. i live a mile from austin bluffs. taks

stoneskin, greater stoneskin, ghostly visage and ethereal visage render just about _any_ attack useless. he'll be able to use anything he's protected against. a mage that likes fireball and related will buff up for such things prior to battle. plus, there are many other spells that can virtually incapacitate any foe making such defenses unnecessary. not if he's protected. that still requires an attack roll, right? or just about any other spell that conceals him, or makes it hard for the cleric to hit him. as someone noted, it is all about tactics. taks

that's just too funny. taks

st. louis, too. same here, actually. in '79, when i was 11 in the 6th grade, we were off for an entire week once because of a 27" snow storm. much more snow back then. nah, just the ever changing chaotic system known as "the climate." taks

the springs _averages_ 3-4 feet per year. we're already up around 2 feet (official numbers are done at the airport, which is much lower elevation than where i live, and thusly probably closer to 18"). on the north end of town, like monument or even black forest, 10 feet in a year is not uncommon. 3-4 feet at a time happens every couple years or so. the mountains are not reporting snow yet (not till they open), so i don't know what they're getting out of this. taks

apparently the section he wiped out on was not really dangerous. he was likely either not paying attention, or screwing around. safe skiing means skiing within your limits. going off piste when you have no experience, and you are alone, is rarely a good idea. i'm to the point now where i can tackle anything on the main slopes. i can even struggle through double diamonds, though my first attempt last year was on a pair of skis designed for speed, which made it difficult. this year, they're putting me in a pair of k2 apaches, which are better all-mountain skis (i.e. it's easier to turn on a dime). the biggest problem i have is that i'm big, which means big skis. most moguls are cut by small folk with small skis. it'll be a challenge even with the right ski this year. oh, we have clocked ourselves (my ski buddy and i) doing about 65 mph on claimjumper at breckenridge. messing up at that speed is deadly. taks

not up here (i'm on the very far north end of town). much worse. they're claiming a mild winter for us, too. temps have been 10-15 F below normal for most of the summer and fall. the lows are around normal, but the highs have not been. i keep thinking of the suzy chaffee commercial (read: whine) about GW screwing up the slopes and causing later winter starts with earlier winter ends and lower snowfall totals. i first saw this commercial last year, in november, when i was skiing on a record 6-7 foot base of fresh powder. the mountains (northern/central) were all 100% open before turkey day. most of the same moutains were 125-150% of normal snowfall for the year (southern got screwed but that was due to an el nina i believe). taks

supposedly the developing el nino is supposed to put a damper on northern colorado snow (technically we're central, but "southern" in this regard means down near NM). however, it seems that this is not always true. particularly this year! all i care about now, is that copper mountain opens next friday. i've got my pass, and i don't have to work that day. woohoo!!! taks

yup, for the 3rd (er, 4th?) time this year, we're getting snow. not just a piddly sprinkling resulting in an inch or two. it's a bleeeeezard out there. we have over a foot at the house and it is still snowing hard. winds are probably gusting at 60-70 mph. white-out conditions are making it nearly impossible to drive though overall, the city has done a good job keeping the streets clean. i made it in to work this morning driving about 10 mph average, mostly that slow because i couldn't see more than 50 feet (i have a 4WD jeep with excellent snow tires). unbelievable. of course, it's supposed to be in the 50s tomorrow, so it will all be melted by the weekend. hehe, such is life in CO! taks

actually, that says absolutely nothing. your rant was next to not even on topic and basically bereft of substance. this has nothing to do with politicians, and otherwise public presence. this goes beyond that to the point where any moron can make some sort of "oppression" or "racism" claim, and then sue to get their way. in the end, all they are trying to do is push an agenda. political correctness is simply the term people use to suppress others' free speech. taks

i was betting on the blizzard approaching colorado as the apocalypse. taks

i don't see this as an issue framed to foster hatred, rather, i see this as an attempt to avert hatred by pointing out how much nonsense this "politically correct" attitude has become. everyone is running around making all sorts of claims of oppression by intentionally pushing "politically correct" buttons of the masses. it's become insane. nobody can say or do anything, even if there was no intent or implication, without being labelled a racist, or a hate monger. taks

my 270 just went down again. the mobo looks good, so i'm blaming the power supply. i swapped it out for a 280 we had lying around (we have several dozen PCs that are getting shipped back to our home offices while they shut us down, so spares are easy to find...) taks

so, you're a druid then, TrueNeutral? taks

i just replaced a dell mobo for the exact same reason. i have a gx270 for my linux box, which started flaking out and, eventually, wouldn't boot except into safe mode (safe mode turns a lot of things off, which reduces noise and power requirements). if you open your box, some of the rather large capacitors will be sort of "bubbled up." i.e. the tops will look like they are bulging out. this is a common problem with dell mobos. taks

keep in mind, too, if you have problems with one element on a single rail, such as a short from a part that fried, it could potentially damage any other element on the same rail since your supplies would not be buffered from each other. taks

ah yes, those that think humans are a bane to earth. gotta love 'em. they'd probably prefer we just die out so bambi and all her (uh, his?) friends can thrive. i don't think they realize that, eventually, another species of intelligent animal will eventually sprout and, not surprisingly, encounter the same problems. if i'm not mistaken, the delta between birth and death rates in all developed countries is dropping (i think russia is actually negative in this regard, i.e. more deaths than births). soon, this will be true for the planet as a whole. i'd be willing to bet this is a natural progression in which life limits itself to its own ability to support itself. rather, our population, and therefore need for resources, will cap at some point. add this to the fact that we become more efficient with time, i doubt such alarmism should be cause for concern. taks

one of the concepts with BG that was never truly settled was the desire for the circle of 8 (presumably) to stop him. a sequel could easily follow up that hunt, with the new protagonist dismayed by the carnage left in the path of the bhaalspawn. it wouldn't be a quest to be a god, it would be a quest to stop one. perhaps your motivation would be the destruction of your lands from one of the massive battles that took place. maybe splinter groups from the iron throne are also after the bhaalspawn as either revenge, or to reclaim what they thought they had coming to them under sarevok. from what i recall, the stuff that JES worked on in the final days of black isle was connected to BG in name only and, interplay still owns those rights. i.e. TBH would NOT be obsids next project unless frenchie got even more desparate for money and sold the assets off cheap. just as an aside that's sort of on topic... taks

i don't read unless i can help it so i have no idea how to respond. why i even replied, is a mystary. taks