Gromnir

have no idea 'bout russia, but as far as snow, US actual has north american winners for snowiest populated and unpopulated places. ain't even including alaska. suspect it has more to do with elevation and lake effect snows. am thinking the snowiest populated places we have ever been were actual in japan. am guessing sapporo and aomori would be among the snowiest big cities on earth, and there is towns in hokkaido which virtual disappear under snow each year. did a search and shirakawa-go is 165km due north o' nagoya, not even in hokkaido. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/picturesque-japanese-village-one-snowiest-places-planet-180967802/ is not particular funny though, so HA! Good Fun!

*chuckle* "Assault rifles have been banned here for ages, all you can buy is a semi auto that looks like an AK or AR-15." again, the ar-15 is semi-auto. bad grammar will be the excuse? don't need to go all tim apple on us. HA! Good Fun!

y'know, all the noise 'bout captain marvel has been deafening. the problem for us is it is difficult to find a review which ain't talking 'bout the tempest in a teacup controversy. other reviewers has specific stated such stuff such, "As a space opera I’m not sure Captain Marvel ranks alongside the best examples of the genre, but as a debut vehicle for a female comic-book hero it scores a lot of points." ... is not that we don't care 'bout women in movies, but apparently we don't care enough 'bout women in movies to see a mediocre film as anything other than mediocre just 'cause is advancing positive female role-models. what we wanna see and applaud is a good movie which also happens to advance positive female role-models. maybe that makes us sexist or misogynistic or insensitive. dunno. regardless, am less concerned 'bout gender advocacy than entertainment value. as far as relative recent superhero movies is concerned, we liked spider-man: homecoming, thor: ragnarok, and the first guardians of the galaxy, the dark knight, and spider-man 2. just behind those movies, we liked logan (am a bit ambivalent 'bout logan and would rate in top tier save for fact that at times we felt like we were watching a remake o' mad max beyond thunderdome,) the first avengers and deadpool, with second avengers (infinity war would be slight higher save for a few seeming plot holes which may be resolved next film and the mind boggling stoopidity o' thanos' grand scheme,) black panther and captain america: winter soldier almost imperceptible behind. is a bunch o' decent superhero films immediate behind those films which we liked, but had more than a couple criticisms, including, but not limited to, dr. strange, the dark knight rises, and wonder woman. terrible superhero films for us is including such infamous selections as batman and robin, superman: the quest for peace and the amazing spider-man 2. keep in mind, we never actual saw steel, catwoman, or fantastic four (2015.) so, if folks is able to ignore the political ack jassery surrounding the film, would any such individuals hazard a guess as to where captain marvel fits on our admitted suspect superhero movie continuum? and not as if anybody needs permission, but feel free to criticize our superhero movie scale. HA! Good Fun!

I got a chuckle over the thoughts and prayers bit but I understand your frustrations as we go through the same thing here as Gromnir already pointed out. as you and others have observed, get folks to understand ar in ar-15 does not = assault rifle would be a good start for getting some rationality injected into the debate, but am not optimistic. https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/81036-the-general-firearms-thread/?p=1820616 this is one o' those oft-repeated issues on these boards, but is curious how nomenclature is a kinda fundamental obstacle to any sorta progress. HA! Good Fun!

you do realize your description is familiar to anybody in the US. assault weapons is an unspecific term, but full-auto weapons has been universally banned here for a long time. but speaking o' ignorance, the ar-15 IS a semi-auto weapon. HA! Good Fun!

this is exact the kinda stuff which worries us. am personal in favor o' assault weapon bans, but if nz did in two days you also know there weren't any kinda serious debate 'bout the issue. maybe you don't think there needs be debate, but shouldn't folks get at least a chance to weigh in and pose opposing arguments? even then, the simple practical aspects o' an assault weapons ban probable deserves some consideration, no? commit to do w/o serious consideration o' how to do sounds a tiny bit irresponsible. is not as if this were a genuine national emergency-- don't pass and another fifty die tomorrow? has been decades since nz had a mass shooting o' this kind. more bothersome is banning Nazis from entering a country. now keep in mind, Australia has a national socialist party, so am thinking samswey is speaking o' immigration and visitors to Australia. milo whatshisface and others have been banned from entering Australia for character reasons, with those character issues being statements or actions which is pro-Nazi. have mentioned before how the US is different insofar as free speech and free religion is concerned. even so, immigrants and non-citizens do not have same speech rights as US citizens. deportation o' illegal immigrants has been deemed ok by the Court when reason for the deportation is limited to the immigrants political activities. wasn't 'til relative recent the Court, by dicta, said in cases o' outrageous government behavior, non citizens could avail themselves o' free speech protections related to political activity. regardless, any number o' white supremacist groups is considered terrorist groups and as such, foreigners with affiliations to such groups has been barred from US entry for a long arse time. suggest such Australian limits is a contrast to US is hardly accurate. as for public shaming. … am not certain what constitutes public shaming. what we tend to think o' as public shaming is typical rendered meaningless by the polarization o' US politics in 2019. there were widespread condemnation o' pu$$y grab comments by trump, but... nothing actual happened. converse, some relative minor infractions o' the unwritten PC Bible may carry career ending consequences. an untenured professor at ______ university laments how there ain't any noteworthy American woman novelists pre 1920. now, the professor is specific arguing how it were lack o' opportunity for woman authors to be recognized 'cause is not as if women in the US sudden evolved novel writing talents post 1910, nevertheless, the prof is fired 'cause o' campus-wide student uproar. 'cause the US don't have government punishments for social unacceptable viewpoints, public shaming should be where folks suffer for their bad actions. doesn't work as one might expect. paradox o' 2019 public shaming is that it has become both excessive and ineffectual. am knowing responding to twitter-length arguments as if such serious is a waste. am gonna continue to fight the tide. HA! Good Fun!

one of our dogs cannot walk on laminate. would be funny if it weren't sad. put her on laminate and she panics. legs shoot out from underneath her as if she is wearing roller skates. lotta area rugs and in-between we literal set up indoor/outdoor mat connectors. these kinda mats. sure, they look fugly, but when company comes over, we pick up the mats and put the dogs outside. is a cheap and temporary solution for your second floor and stairs. you could cut up the mats for the stairs and put down a few mats in hallways upstairs. for our house, we got 6 o' 'em at just under $20 a piece. ours are 3'x5'. the mats are ugly. no question 'bout it. however, for relative cheap investment, they might suffice 'til you decide on a more permanent solution. HA! Good Fun!

wouldn't doubt there has been studies which show the increased accessibility o' studies has also increased stress levels. am not doubting social stigma has always been a major stress engine. social media has no doubt made such stressors (?) far more immediate and problematic for people. the thing is, looking at the link provided by gd, the things millenials is actual stressing 'bout is pretty mundane and common. sure, "losing cell phone" is high on the list, but the vast majority o' stressful scenarios coulda' been seen on a list from 1980 or even 1950: lost keys; job interviews; late for work; traffic. *shrug* am recalling another study. pool o' subjects were folks with at least a BS/BA. study claimed the most stressful time in a person's life were university years, and specific midterms and finals. am not certain how anxiety and stress were valued, but were a mid 90s thing. dunno what any o' this means, but am gonna embrace our naked confirmation bias and nod agreement at the notion millenials seems to get stressed o'er nothing far more readily than older peoples. and yeah, Gromnir has embraced his inner curmudgeon, but just this weekend we looked out front window and saw kids playing in our yard. didn't bother us one bit. HA! Good Fun!

you already gave up on discussing any issue relevant topic save for personal silliness, so any response from Gromnir is gonna necessarily add to devolution, but please keep posting... for posterity. gfted's guide to board moderation, now with examples. what a hoot. let's see just how far you will go... am knowing a "fin" from gifted is meaningless, so am admitted curious to see just how far he will take what is obvious already doomed. yet another attempt to keep thread relevant. DNA Shows Ethnically Diverse Crew Sailed Henry VIII’s Flagship HA! Good Fun! ps as to gd millenial post, am not sure who to blame more: parents or schools. parents is necessarily doing less parenting than ever before. more work and less time to parent. two working parents is now common. is not school's job to parent kids, but reality is kids likely get as much parenting at school as they get at home. many schools, for the last couple generations, has been in participation trophy mode. is never the kid's fault when they get bad grades; teachers need find a more appropriate modality to reach the student. bullies at school were victims o' bad parents or over harsh potty training, so give 'em hugs instead o' discipline. etc. am being hyperbolic, but not completely. is not the job o' schools to parent, but reality is many (not all) parents don't parent the way they once did.

obvious solution is to sever the gordian knot, but am suspecting such ain't what you are looking for. we bought an antiquated minivan for our dogs, so am perhaps being a bit hypocritical, but we do see a simple solution for shady. alternative might ne to do a laminate thing for the stairs, if you can find laminate which matches. some ' the faux pergo stuff is nigh indestructible. HA! Good Fun!

moderator's job is gonna be getting a little more difficult for gifted after today. linky to this post is gonna give folks a whole lotta latitude when questioning why their posts got disappeared, eh? *chuckle* doesn't bother us if gifted loses his water; is an affirmation o' sorts after all. is not even first time doing so and whenever it happens, am admitted experiencing the smallest degree o' mirth. bad on us. nevertheless, we do feel a bit remorseful for other moderators who may get painted with same brush... or in this case, mop. clean up on aisle 5? but to try and keep on-topic, your heavy metal music does not appear best for cheese culture. scientists played music to cheese as it aged. hip-hop produced the funkiest flavor is not good news for josh. Wisconsin to become the hip-hop state? perhaps try some funkadelic cheese. HA! Good Fun!

yup. is no way we ever get the real problems addressed. unsafe working conditions such as led to triangle shirt fire and those Pennsylvania mine accidents will never be addressed... but they were addressed. an inter-state highway system in a nation as large and as the US, with fifty separate states all disagreeing on how to implement, made such a monumental undertaking impossible... until it happened. and dealing with communicable diseases such as measles and polio clear were never gonna be overcome in any person's lifetime, evar… right up until 90% vaccination rates were achieved. oh, and given how utter divided the nation were on the matter o' race, passing comprehensive civil rights legislation were nothing more than a waste o' time to pursue... but gosh, such legislation were passed by both houses o' Congress and signed into law by the President and upheld as legal by the Courts. 'course the real problems is press and ordinary citizens exercising those dirty free speech rights granted to 'em in the Constitution and the systemic fed level democracy limits on madmen and tyrants. if one genuine believes the real problems is indeed unfixable, then why not address those smaller and more accessible problems. yeah, access to safe drinking water (1974) and protecting minority citizens right to vote (1965, 1970, 1975, 1982) is minor and trivial issues, but why not go ahead and fix such issues if is possible to do so? veteran's choice program (2014) improved health care options for veterans. who really cares 'bout veterans and their health, but senators McCain and Sanders negotiated anyways... for sh!ts and giggles we s'pose. more in-line with thread... The Choctaw Nation's Gift to the Irish HA! Good Fun!

is march 17. HA! Good Fun!

can we get an "amen"? been saying this from the moment trump started sharing his goals for the Presidency. he can't do most o' what he promises and only a little o' what he demands, and a good thing too. but instead o' trying to do the impossible, the smarter folks around trump find ways to get pieces and parts o' what he promised... which is just enough to appease the base. a muslim ban with immigration preferences for christians no less, were clear gonna fail. unfortunate, the wh lawyers and the courts themselves gave trump a blueprint for how to further limit immigration even if a muslim ban were impossible. in spite o' campaign promises, trump can't build a wall w/o Congress, and he is so divisive he fails to get Congressional support when republicans have majorities in both houses. really? so now we is looking at a national emergency which all but guarantees his sea-to-shining-sea wall won't happen anytime soon. we suggested the following purchase for trump during elections... https://www.amazon.com/Schoolhouse-Rock-Special-30th-Anniversary/dp/B00005JKTY am knowing folks has speculated trump never wanted to be President and that he were as surprised as most folks when he managed to win the election. dunno. can't say. regardless, am convinced trump has never know what it means to actual be President. seems to act as if President is the majority share holder and ceo o' USA inc. HA! Good Fun!

one o' the problems with dna testing o' ethnicity is hurl might take same test as sister and indeed show as 1/8th italian. you got 50% dna in common with your sister but the genetic recombination which takes place due to egg and sperm carrying only half chromosomes leads to variations. hurl takes test and finds out his dna is more than 1/8th italian... sudden becomes an inch shorter, more hirsute and feels compulsion to buy a late 80s trans am and a cornicello necklace? HA! Good Fun!

sure. sure. 'cause million dollar bribery schemes is nothing but an excuse for first worlder's "squeals." what an utter waste o' law enforcement efforts to uncover and stop fraud. corruption? only reason anybody cares is 'cause o' fake news doing fake news, right? *insert eye-roll* yeah, have learned from gifted the real problems is the press getting same free speech protections as ordinary citizens, american federal democracy successful preventing good old fashioned dictatorships from getting stuff done, and basic math. why won't somebody do something 'bout the real problems? HA! Good Fun!

complete aside, we do approve o' the land crabs school motto, even if it does kinda work against the current thread theme. HA! Good Fun!

no, but is still weird. warren went to rutgers law school, and there is no evidence she used native american heritage to get into rutgers during 70s. again, is weird. at some point during the 80s, warren started identifying herself as native american on various forms. bar application for texas. job application for harvard. some kinda cookbook? not kidding. harvard says warren curious ancestry claims were irrelevant in her hiring process. same with all other employers. nevertheless, is odd she would sudden start perpetrating the cherokee bit in the 80s and is reasonable to assume she did so 'cause she thought it would help with employment opportunities particular as 70s and 80s were difficult for women attorneys in this country. barbara jordan once claimed she had never felt limited by the color o' her skin as she pursued a career in law, but her gender were a constant hurdle. take it for whatever it is worth. am not making excuses for warren btw. the situation offends us, if only in a small kinda way. however, is a mischaracterization to say warren used mendacity to gain entrance to schools. seems she did use such silliness to try and advance her career after school graduations, and the fundamental wrong might not be different, but am figuring is best to get facts correct. weren't school applications, at least as far as anybody knows. HA! Good Fun! ps am gonna admit the warren bit has us conflicted. affirmative action schemes made our blood boil during 80s and 90s. never identified self as native American on any form precise 'cause we thought it would be hypocritical to take advantage o' a plan which we found counter-productive. warren, and folks like warren, no doubt used the native lie to get better job opportunities and o enhance their acceptance chances for scholarships and school admissions... which by necessity meant such folks, and others, believed Gromnir were benefiting from such. all o' our accomplishments were therefore carrying a unspoken handicap correction. he got into boalt? well, if he weren't native american, he likely woulda' had to go to same law school as saul goodman. can't describe how much we hated affirmative action... until 'bout last decade. have done a 180 on affirmative action. won't go into all the details why as have done so before and is getting further off-topic than we wish. nevertheless, we ain't never complete shook off our old affirmative action baggage. on some level we still dislike how the preferences is utilized, so folks getting taken by fakes has us reflexive chuckling. even so, am realizing folks such as warren makes it more difficult for a successful affirmative action program to ever take root. hell, we has seen on this board alone, as recent as last few days, people thinks there is nothing particular wrong with lying, cheating and stealing to get ahead. if warren gets a pass, then those clowns who thinks the entire system is rigged-but-ok-as-is, will feel some kinda vindication... 'cause they is nutty. whatever.

Far away and nearly unintelligible speech? Massachusetts. if massachusetts were the goal, am thinking they missed a great opportunity for a southie rekke. day early, but why not? HA! Good Fun!

princeton has been rating slight higher than stanford in recent years, but even so, the argument is gonna be the same stuff is happening at princeton. if linda sue were cheated out o' stanford by some rich schnook's kid, then who is to say it ain't happening at every other ivy. the only reason the feds know 'bout the 8 schools in question is 'cause a guy in ny being charged with securities fraud, attempted to get a better plea deal by offering up info on one guy: rick singer. the feds investigated mr. singer, but is not as if they went ahead and checked if other schools were being targeted by similar schemes. and while we know gifted hates even the simplest maths... stanford charges a $90 application fee. stanford rejects approx 38k student applications per year. show the scheme has been going on for 5 ish years at stanford. $90 is not a huge amount, but each and every one o' those rejected applicants is gonna have an argument that their application were not treated fair and that they should get their money returned. we ain't talking some kinda wacky lawsuit wherein folks is asking for $100 million 'cause the application made a student feel uncomfortable 'bout their lgbt status 'cause it asked the applicant to check box for male or female, with no other options. kinda thing am talking 'bout is simple: stanford were running a rigged game w/o telling anybody the game were rigged, and were charging folks to play. is not an anybody will sue over anything scenario 'cause this is exact what Courts has been protecting folks from since at least Roman republic times. $17 million dollars in compensatory damages for the class. there were seven other schools involved with varying acceptance rates and application fees. to keep simple, albeit arbitrary, let's cut the stanford compensatory damages in half and then multiply by total number o' schools so far. so, $68 million dollars in compensatory damages. UT and UCLA is public schools, so taxpayers end up paying that bill... which don't include attorney fees. show one school administrator knew 'bout the scheme and decided to do nothing 'bout it and you may add punitive damages to the mix. and none o' the 'bove maths includes the college boards. both sat and act were involved as part o' the scheme. sat costs ~$65 with the essay. act is $62. is something in the range o' 3.2 million people taking those standardized tests every year. test numbers have value 'cause people believe they got value. court decides the class deserves partial refund 'cause testing boards did not adequate insure the integrity o' the process? almost nobody is gonna sue over $2, which is the public policy justification for class actions. let big organizations get away with screwing ordinary folks 'cause it don't make any kinda economic sense to take folks to court over $2 or $65 or $90? sure, the school or corporate entity is making millions 'cause o' their negligence, indifference or even willful bad acts, but those folks would never get sued 'cause is so little individual plaintiff money at stake. regardless, getting application money back if stanford were irresponsible is hardly excessive. but heck, gifted and malcolm abbott is simpatico on this, so at least they is in good company, no? maybe share a smoke and complain 'bout fed overreaction. good times. HA! Good Fun!

the cops were called out to tyreek hill's home twice in a relative short period o' time. police action were due to alleged battery o' a juvenile. mr. hill is being investigated. am gonna wait for more facts.

mid-to-late 70s had much American fascination with cb radios and long distance truckers. we had a cb radio 'cause our phone service were as reliable as a string connected by two dixie cups. most o' the folks we would hear on our radio were not truckers or drivers o' any kind, but they were all strange, so am not sure there is a meaningful difference from shady's experience. am not a fan o' living rooms. go great room concept if possible 'cause over the years, the only thing we used living room for were 1) a place to keep living room furniture, 2) the room for our Christmas tree, 3) a designated area for entertaining larger numbers o' guests, and 4) the eventual resting place for the monstrosity which is our pool table. even so, why rearrange today 'cause won't you be spending a whole lotta time rearranging tomorrow... moving sofa a foot to the left... or perhaps a bit closer to the window... or maybe... HA! Good Fun!

am thinking this is like the mit temperature change numbers-- am gonna have zero chance reaching gifted. nevertheless, since gifted don't care 'bout fundamental fraud issues, we will instead focus on his reduction o' the scheme to what he seems to see as a harmless bribe, sorta like ferris playing funsies at the chez louis the maître d' in the college entrance scheme took bribes totalling $25 million dollars for spots in elite universities which would no doubt be valued much more than $25 million. so make this instead a federal highway construction fraud case instead o' college entrance. mastermind behind the highway construction fraud gets in trouble 'cause over a decade he took $25 million dollars from contractors to guarantee those contractors would win bids for projects no doubt worth hundreds o' millions. is no finding the bribe biders failed to complete basic minimum contract requirements. (aside: this aspect is not actual equivalent 'cause numerous students in the scheme were not providing the university with the competitive athlete the university were expecting, but am trying to keep this as simple as possible for gifted.) so, no real crime for gifted? nothing more wrong than chez louis scam? is doubtful the bidders who woulda' otherwise won the contracts if not for the bribe scheme would agree with gifted, eh? and yeah, just as we noted 'bove, those bidders for government contracts would no doubt be bringing legal actions 'gainst the government for failure o' oversight in their contract award process, so there is gonna be substantial additional costs for the government/taxpayers. is not small or petty or harmless precise if for no other reason than than we are talking 'bout values o' many $$$. but again, the fraud thing don't bother gifted, so... HA! Good Fun! ps am avoiding double-post faux pas, so excuse non-sequitur nature o' the following: A brigade of beagles helps the US save billions at America's busiest airports gd may be conflicted 'bout the story. on the one had, the dogs is encroaching on his civil liberties. what's next, teach 'em to sniff gunpowder to take away his guns and ammo? on the other hand, gd is a softie for canines, and as much as gd hates the fed, the border and customs folks is using rescue dogs to man, so-to-speak, the beagle brigade.

so, you equate a degree opportunity from yale or stanford with backdoor access to a trendy club? ... am baffled, but am thinking we see the core problem. HA! Good Fun!

irrelevant. doesn't in any way diminish culpability o' parents who committed fraud or schools and testing boards failed oversight. even so, for a rich kid, is surprising easy to get just passing kinda grades at elite schools. paid tutors. sororities and frats with access to previous years tests and knowledge o' easiest profs. more scurrilous techniques include having folks write papers and take tests for students. 'bout 1/3 o' our lower division classes at cal had ~100 students. might be different nowadays, but we always wondered how difficult it would be for some random person to show up and pretend to be bob smith ernie fields for midterms and finals. chances are the professor never even met bob smith. heck, test scores were posted based on student id# rather than name, so am suspecting nacy turnbuckle coulda' taken bob smith's tests and nobody woulda' been the wiser. is tough to get fantastic or even basic dean's honors at an elite school, but just passing? regardless, is a separate issue and complete irrelevant. is likely tens o' thousand o' kids who didn't get into stanford last year who, if they had been admitted, coulda' eventual graduated. so what? HA! Good Fun!