taks

apparently you are unable to listen, then. it isn't a surprise, either, that when mr. clinton was in office he had to deal with a hostile, republican congress. had he had the benefit of democrats in charge of the purse strings, you think things are bad now... holy cow. if hilary's genius pet had passed (health care), we'd all be happy with $9T. bush should've stayed away from the moronic drug bill. if he had, we'd be in much better shape. taks

the article fool. they do this crap all the time. irrlevant anyway. again, the article. as cheney pointed out, this issue was already resolved. perhaps somebody has an axe to grind? (not just you). taks

btw, before commissar gets his panties in a bind, my point is that if they did stick their hands in the cookie jar, then apparently they are caught. the system works. amazing. if they did not, then the thought of political motivation certainly raises it's head. given that we have only the one-sided information so far, it is a bit hard to make a judgement. facts, just the facts. note, too, that they are claiming these issues have already been resolved, which would render the point moot. we shall see, i guess. taks

uh, may i say "big deal"? also, d'ya think maybe the article is a bit one-sided? hmmm... taks

and for the record, i ain't the one whining about what other people do with their own time. taks

no... i already said what i was... a fraternity alumnus. fraternities have the same silly practices as any and all of these "clubs" have. in the context of world politics, they are meaningless. that these people get together and keep secrets is their business. taks

big freaking deal. how does that give you a right to pry into their business? they could call him "has relationship with donkey" and it's still none of your business. so, since when does odd give you a right to pry into others' business? really, this is ridiculous. taks

i know full well what you're up to... but the masses do not. taks

but a silly little club's secrets are none of your business... it's like me asking you about your sex life. none of my business either. why people think they need to know everythinig about private entities is beyone me. it is intrusive. taks

man, commissar, give me a break... i love conspiracy theories but rational thought must prevade. of course, knowing you, stirring the pot is not out of the question! i'm more concerned with the influence of the trilateral commission and the bilderbergs... none of which has anything to do with the masons or the 33rd parallel (er, nothing credible). hehe. taks

and what secrets are worth everyone knowing? their "secrets" are nothing more than silly rituals as i've already noted. do the lions, or the eagles, or any other rotary club post their "secrets?" (hint: no). any private company keeps it's inner workings secret, should those all be public too? every government in the world has lots of secrets. this line of reasoning, i'm sorry, is ridiculous. these are private organizations, so it only stands to reason that they not let you in on their business unless you join. nothing more. why is it so important to know what "secrets" they have? taks

not even coincidences... if you read the fine print, most of the "33rd parallel" crap isn't even on the 33rd parallel. it's "south of" or "near" but rarely actually "on" the 33rd parallel. in some instances, it's actually several degrees to either direction and often, simply "to the north of." if this isn't a joke i don't know what is. it's funny that there's some conspiracy in the fact that most of the world's wealth is in the northern hemisphere until you notice that most of the land is actually in the northern hemisphere. over half is above the 33rd parallel. no wonder all the people live there (the largest landmass in the southern hemisphere is antarctica, which is all but uninhabitable). taks

given that there is no devil, nor god, i'd have to say no to that last bit. taks

Why have trillions when you can have zillions? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> actually, oil companies hire out their services. logging companies are the ones that know where and how much oil is left, and there is so much competition in that arena that there's no way they're keeping it secret. i.e. everyone knows about current reserves, it's the undiscovered stuff we don't know about. there's also the issue of deposits such as shale, which are just first becoming economically viable again. taks

patents are actually pretty cheap (and equally meaningless anymore). $25k assuming you've done your homework. less if you're a "small business." research, as you realized, is the key. uh, not so much what i was getting at. i think a better way to say is that they realize how much it is going to cost short term, and that even though the supplyis finite, it has a pretty long shelf life. if we stopped discovering new sources today, estimates range anywhere from 50 to 100 years or more. we keep finding more oil, however. as a result, they see no need to spend the billions up front, but would rather wait it out, slowly developing alternative ideas. yes and no. it actually stands to better reason that they'd rather be the ones inventing the new technology. sort of like dow chemical inventing the replacement for R-12 refridgerant. hehe. there's good meat in what you said, don't worry about that. i'm not trying to be mean, just point you in the direction of what seems plausible from an ultimate capitalist viewpoint. and oil companies are ultimate capitalists. taks

i think, btw, that hades' last post is probably the most cogent example of rational thought that has ever come off of his keyboard. taks

which is no different than ANY fraternity, social club or rotary club that exists or has ever existed. they all have their secrets including screwy rituals, typically dreamed up by young kids that founded the club and wanted to "separate themselves" from other socities/clubs. nothing to see here, move along folks. same old same old. i'm in a fraternity myself (uh, long since holding alumni status). yes, we have a secret handshake, strange rituals and even funny costumes. oh boy. none of us were satanic (most were catholic, actually, i'm the rogue atheist in my class), and certainly none of us ran around sacrificing sheep or any other small mammal (though there's nobody claiming we never threatened pledges with sheep...). harmless fun. the masons probably get a worse rap than they deserve. anti-masonry sentiment in the 1800s was out of control and i think it never went away. sure lots of presidents and leaders were members of secretive societies. they are no different than the others except for the fact that they only pick elites, wealthy types with potential. it's not so much that these societies create the leaders, it's that they pick the leaders (keep in mind, kerry was a skull and bones, too). taks

unfortunately, fossil fuels are the most widely used way to generate electricity... and if you think gasoline output is bad, take a look at a coal plant. the people pushing the ethanol, btw, are the ones that stand to gain from it. they don't care about the environment any more than anyone else... they just want the money. taks

you assume it is only millions. trillions is a better assumption. after billions already spent on solar power, it is still too inefficient for general use. wind power has seen billions as well, and it is horribly inefficient. billions have been spent on making ethanol, yet it still cost 29% more fuel to make than the corn produces. still. given that you borked the very first assumption, i'd say the rest is suspect. taks

Transcendental numbers at our friend the wiki. taks

it's a transcendental number. there is no "all" to the list of digits. i.e. there are an infinite number of digits. taks

but staff as moronic as this aren't a good way to run a business, either. other people that worked for the guy posted and said the job sucked, but the manager was actually pretty good. bad employees always try to make it out to be a bad boss. given that the only hard evidence we have of the situation is the employees' immature, and unprofessional, "resignation", i can only assume bad employees. taks

not to mention the fact that i clearly stated i worked a bunch of crap jobs only two posts earlier. taks

uh, you can't read, can you? i've worked nearly 20 jobs in my life. several at minimum wage. the idea of a "slave wage" is a joke. you don't have to work there and, if you had any skills, you could demand more money. duh. oh my god! clean the floors. wipe the toilet. UNSKILLED LABOR is unskilled labor and it isn't worth even minimum wage. yup, and you learn to put up with hell to get to the end of the tunnel where the light is. it's called a work ethic. then you've apparently never run a restaurant, eh? sorry, but this statement is flat out wrong. if you want to run the restaurant into the ground, this line of reasoning is a perfect start. i've been on both sides of the management issue - i ran a bar for the last year of my master's degree. most of the time, employees that whine about a bad boss are actually bad employees. i couldn't afford school, either. the parents helped a little, and i got a bunch of loans, and i worked crap jobs nearly fully time through all of my education. too bad. i did it, and most others have as well. maturity is the answer. deal with it now for the pay off later. and their lack of professionalism, and obvious idiocy in singing their names, will nearly guarantee anyone that has read thier note will never hire them. fools at best... taks

if ya'll like the outdoors... survivorman is outstanding. only a half dozen or so episodes, but there are negotiations going on for another "season". unfortunately, this is the type of show where there are only so many scenarios, so i can't imagine much more than a few dozen total. taks