Phi for All

Take your friend aside, gently explain to him that while you appreciate his point of view, you prefer to listen to all sides of an issue before forming your own opinion. Then push your friend in the river. j/k

One of the things I've always held against McNamara was going against Sen. Symington's recommendation to unify the military under a single Chief of Staff, abolishing the JCS. I've always felt it was stupid to have 3 different branches of the military spending taxpayer dollars to go after every buck allocated to defense. It's triple the paperwork, triple the staff and I'm just not sure it's necessary to compartmentalize our own forces to such an extent. I know McNamara did it for the same reasons any good businessman would have in taking over in a time of tension. You don't want to change things too radically just before things get hot. But I've often wondered how much more effective our forces would be if we had soldiers who knew about ships and soldiers who knew about tanks and soldiers who knew how to fly planes, and they were all United States Defenders, instead of having internal rivalries and lack of fiscal cohesion between Navy, Army and Air Force. Does anybody know if Kerry is planning any radical overhauls of the military in this respect?

I took a look at Nature Geeks. Very impressive undertaking. I wish you well at your website, you've done a great job! Since you are a proponent of environmental issues, how do you feel about the Bush administration's policy on drilling in the Arctic Refuge? And doctoring reports on its impact in Alaska? And threatening Fish and Wildlife employees with suspension or worse for voicing their opinions on its devastating effects to these fragile habitats? How do you feel about cutting the budget for things like prevention of toxic chemicals in the environment? My favorite is limiting public access to information on how safe our drinking water is for reasons of national security. Oh, terrorism just provides so many benefits to polluters and warmongers! I for one would like to see our dependence on oil and other fossil fuels as energy sources decreased as quickly as possible. Kerry proposes more research into renewable energy and areas that give us hope instead of swindling, sorry, dwindling deadlines.

A man and his blonde wife are so down on their luck that the husband finally tells her, "Sweetie, I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but you're going to have to become a prostitute and have sex with other men for money or we'll lose the house, the car, EVERYTHING!" She reluctantly agrees and goes out looking for customers. At dawn the next morning the blonde comes home and the husband asks how she did. "Pretty good for my first night," she says. "I made $420 and fifty cents." "Fifty cents?" says the guy. "Who gave you fifty cents?" The blonde says, "Well, everybody!"

Communication is certainly important as the world gets smaller and the borders are easier to cross. I think the most important lesson to be learned is tolerance. We have got to stop viewing everybody else as doing things the wrong way. It's just their way and if it's an obstacle to you, then go around it. Don't just stand there calling them names. If it makes you feel superior to say someone should learn your language when you don't bother to learn theirs, you've got a problem. We english-only speakers need to remember that multi-linguals have done more work than we have, even if their english isn't perfect. And if someone moves here and hasn't learned the language, they must be doing something right if they are prospering. I never see any non-English speaking bums in my part of the country. Let's cut everybody some slack here and be more tolerant.

The only flame I'll give you on this, Dave, is that most of your tech support lines originate in foreign countries, so if the guy on the other end of the phone speaks English with an Indian accent, it's probably because he's working the night shift in Calcutta. If you're talking to people in the streets who don't speak your language very well, then I applaud you. Most folks don't want to be bothered with strangers these days, especially foreigners. If you are striking up conversations, there are many universal ways to make yourself understood without precise language. It can be fun to get your point across to a fellow human even if you can't understand their words. Remember Steve Martin's immortal line: Some people have a way with words, others... not have way. I also doubt most who move to a foreign country are seeking asylum. You should be glad they feel safer or more prosperous in your country. Shows you that the grass is greener on your side for once. *Edit* I was going to vote "Other" and then explain why until I saw the posts by yourdadonapogos. Obviously, the answer is "YES!!!!!"

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could list twenty lies that Bush and his cabinet have used to mislead this country into deficit, decline and war, and that you would find some justification for each one, and blow them off like they're unimportant. THIS is what galls so many of us here, that some of you, our fellow Science Forums members, really smart folks all of you, think that Bush is a good president. You read threads from people all over the world about a variety of weighty subjects, but just because Bush talks like a junior high dropout you seem to think it's OK for him to not read a whole memo about national security. PLEASE don't talk to me about intelligent ways to say things!

It was delicious!

Five doctors went duck hunting one day. Included in the group were a GP, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist, a surgeon and a pathologist. After a while, a bird came winging overhead. The first to react was the GP who raised his shotgun, but then hesitated. "I'm not quite sure it's a duck," he said, "I think that I will have to get a second opinion." And of course by that time, the bird was long gone. Another bird appeared in the sky. This time, the pediatrician drew a bead on it. He too, however, was unsure if it was really a duck in his sights and besides, it might have babies. "I'll have to do some more investigations," he muttered, as the creature made good its escape. Next to spy a bird flying was the sharp-eyed psychiatrist. Shotgun shouldered, he was more certain of his intended prey's identity. "Now, I know it's a duck, but does it know it's a duck?" The fortunate bird disappeared while the fellow wrestled with this dilemma. Finally, a fourth fowl sped past and this time the surgeon's weapon pointed skywards. BOOM!! The surgeon lowered his smoking gun and turned nonchalantly to the pathologist beside him. "Go see if that was a duck, will ya?"

"First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill." George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 19, 2003 It was a dark and stormy afternoon. Secret Service agents made sure that no one followed the President as he made his way into this secret stretch of swamp, part of the original marsh on top of which all of Washington DC sat. Dubya stopped at the edge of an oozy patch, careful not to get mud on his Manolo Blahnik shoes. His unkempt hair and wiry werewolf beard made him look like Tom Hanks in Castaway, only much more well-fed. A reeking haze hung over this section, with red maples covered in fetid streamers of moss and yuck from countless slimy DC denizens. Two hundred years of lies and broken promises hung like canned spinach from the fronds of plants that hadn't seen the sun in too long a time. Bush inhaled deeply of the reek and smiled. "Welcome to my neighborhood!" he chuckled. "Can you say 'miasma'? See, I know lots of big words." He giggled some more and then his face became serious as he stretched his hands out over the swamp. "Come to me!" he called in a low voice. "Come to me and aid me in this dark hour as you aided my father!" The dismal background noise of frogs and crickets and birdcalls hushed into silence like a bad capacitor electrolyte scandal. Slowly, inexorably, a mound of rotted, filthy mush rose from the murk to take on human shape, shrouded in her garb of garbage and oily muck, to stand before the President of the United States. Dubya smirked at her and said, "Advise me, Condoleezza." The Swamp Thing said, "What's up, Mr. President?" Dubya kicked at a root protruding from the ground and said irritably, "People are saying we should have heeded the pre-9/11 intelligence warnings. You didn't bury that Presidential Daily Briefing deep enough in my to-do list." Swamp Thing said, "I'll tell them no one predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile. I'll tell them the PDB was too vague." Dubya said, "Yeah but all the contractors are in place now, I need to go to war with Iraq, that's where the money is! How do I get the people behind me?" Swamp Thing said, "I'll tell the people we all want very much to see this resolved in a peaceful way, while you work out the plans to invade.” "I got a couple of memos from the CIA saying Saddam doesn't have any nukes. Just some gas that Rumsfeld passed a while back. The nuclear material document from Africa was counterfeit." Swamp Thing said, "I'll tell the people no one in our circles knew that there were doubts and suspicions that this might be a forgery." Bush frowned and said, "What if the people find out we knew?" Swamp Thing said, "I'll tell them the CIA cleared the speech in its entirety." "And when the CIA brings up the memos?" Bush asked. Swamp thing shrugged her peaty shoulders. "I'll tell them we didn't read the memos entirely. It will be simple negligence, not misleading the nation into an untenable war." Dubya frowned for a moment longer, then broke into a smirk. "I didn't read the whole memo. They'll believe that. And even though I've already stated on at least two occasions that Saddam will have nukes within a year, you can just tell the people that I didn't say it was going to be NEXT year!" Bush's smirk fractured a bit more into a rare, full smile. He waded into the bog and embraced the oily, rotting creature in a Texas bear-hug, saying, "Swamp Thing, I think I LOVE you!" Next installment--The Monster's Ball

Trendy?! Is it trendy to want the president to stick by what he says he'll do? He was elected because he was a moderate cantidate, in his own words, and he's been anything but moderate. He says he's for education and then underfunds his own bills. He says he's for cleaner air and healthy forests and then destroys 50 years worth of legislation that has protected us from heavy over-industrialization. He pays no attention to advisors in areas in which he's weak. He stressed the need for America to act like a "humble nation" in foreign policy and then starts a war in Iraq that ws pointless. Afghanistan was retaliation, but Iraq is just pure greed. Now that he has committed us to the war in Iraq, we have far fewer choices in our future course of action. This is the oldest trick in the book. Unscrupulous plumbers and electricians use it like this: "Should be a piece of cake, Mr Jones, I'll rewire your whole house for $1000." A month later you hear, "Gosh Mr Jones, I don't know what the original installer was thinking, he really screwed things up badly. I had no idea it was this bad, how could I before I started? Its going to be another $5000 to get it right." By then he's got your house all torn up and it would cost you even more to fire him and bring in someone new. And the bastard knows that. It's what he's counting on. You should actually do some research on Kerry rather than just listening to the TV sound bytes politicians are forced to rely on theses days. Kerry has an energetic stand on new technology, medical research, economy and national security. I think all major party cantidates these days are in someone's pockets because they rely on heavy contributions to reach out to Americans who treat voting like some sort of football pool, but Kerry doesn't back the oil barons and I think they have had their time at the banquet table. Let's move on, people.

A woman went with her husband to the doctor's office. After his checkup, the doctor called the wife into his office alone. He said, "Your husband is suffering from a very severe stress disorder. If you don't follow my instructions, your husband will die." "Be pleasant at all times. Make him three nutritious, home-cooked meals a day. Don't burden him with chores. Don't discuss your problems with him, it will only make his stress worse. No nagging. And most importantly, make love with your husband several times a week. If you can do this for the next 10 months to a year, I think your husband will regain his health completely." On the way home, the husband asked his wife. "So, what did the doctor say?" She glanced over at him sourly and replied, "He said you're gonna die."

Bush dodging the draft has been an issue since he ran in 2000. The press pointed it out because his records were mysteriously missing rom National Guard files. As opposed to his Texas driving record, which was merely locked away in daddy's sealed presidential library. The latest evidence, btw, scrounged from the records of one of Bush's COs in the Air National Guard, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, now deceased, show notes referring to Bush getting a "sugar-coating" in a referral from another officer. His refusal to take a routine medical exam constituted violating a direct order, something that would have gotten a less well-connected guardsman courtmartialed. Bush has categorically stated that he did not use unfair influence to get a deferral, yet now the story comes out that former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes helped Bush and the sons of other wealthy families get into the guard so they could avoid serving in Vietnam. Whoops! Another lie! Where are the Congressional hearings now? Someone call Ken Starr! On Aug. 1, 1972, Col. Killian issued an order that Bush "be suspended from flight status due to failure to perform to standards and failure to meet annual physical examination as ordered." He called for an investigation and that investigation was swept under the rug. In a further memo, Killian wrote "Subject: CYA" (cover your ass). All the documentation on the investigation which should have followed an order like that has been mysteriously lost.

*Sigh* Do you think the American Revolution was pointless? That started out with a bunch of misrepresented folks sitting around griping. If we all sat around thinking other people must know about the need for solutions and must be doing something about it, change and progress would never happen. Really? Your folks pulled out of the Mutual Fund market early enough not to be burned when Bush took over? Good for them, I wish I would have been more of a speculator instead of an investor. Again, please don't take offense, but are you thinking about your own future? Things may seem fine for you now but what happens when Social Security is not there for you? What happens when your children can't get a decent education because the education bill was underfunded in order to start another war? Unrestricted logging means you may not be able to take your kids camping in the forest some day, or your kid's kids may not get to see them. If we keep allowing higher levels of toxins into our environment, which generation of Refsmmat's is going to be hit the hardest? Do you hope your children and grandchildren will just sit back and bear injustice like good little consumers? I do hope you are thinking about them some of the time. Their future starts now.

The word you are searching for is prejudiced, having formed an opinion prior to actually dealing with someone or something. Racism is active discrimination based on a person's race. Btw, neither word is applicable in context of your argument. Re-read what atm has posted and you'll find he has not pre-judged your rifle.

All those smart people are the ones who were offering solutions to Bush that he has ignored. It's not up to me to find solutions, it's up to our elected officials. This one has proven that he is going to ignore the solutions provided and do what his "base" advises him to do. And that base just wants to make more money, they have none of my interests at heart. I'm airing my gripes so people will know there is a need for solutions, because some people seem to think everything is just great. No offense, but it must be nice to live with your parents. Write when you find work and move out and have to live in the world that Bush built.

JPL's website reports that impact was 193 mph, but they have hopes of obtaining uncontaminated material. It doesn't look like they've written it off quite yet.

Soggy Florida! Charley, Frances, now Ivan. You guys need a break!

The comic foil, scaled down to suit ten-year-old tastes, is not Hollywood's best artistic choice, but it seems to make them more money, unfortunately. Scenes We'd Like To See (Episode 3): Jar Jar impaled in a seated position on a Gungan Electropole while Vader practices with the Dark Side on Jar Jar's ears. "Meesa gonna DIE!"

The Olmecs revered the wheel as a representation of the sun & moon. They made children's toys using the wheel because kids were considered innocent, but they didn't use it to relieve their work burden. From what I remember, the old tiller system of steering wasn't changed until ships started getting bigger and the need for the helmsman to have a good view precluded him being close to the rudder. I think the first linkage steering systems were Chinese and Indian, copied by folks in the Mediterranean by the early 1700s. Eventually having handles on the wheel meant for better grip and a way to keep course by degrees. I think the Pacific Polynesians used boats that weren't big enough to need anything more than a tiller.

It all started with those #$&@ Ewoks! They were originally supposed to be Wookies but got changed to open up the kiddie market. Lucas went Disney.

A blind man enters a Lesbian bar by mistake. He finds his way to a bar stool and orders a drink. After sitting there for a while the blind guy yells to the bartender, "Hey, wanna hear a blonde joke?" A deathly silence comes over the bar. In a deep, husky, menacing voice, the woman next to him says, "Before you tell that joke, you should know something. The bartender is blonde, the bouncer is blonde, and I'm a 6' tall, 200 pound blonde with a black belt in karate. What's more, the woman sitting next to me is blonde and she's a weight lifter. The lady to your right is a blonde and she's a pro wrestler. Think about it seriously, Mister. You still wanna tell that joke?" The blind man pauses to think, and then says, "Nah, not if I'm gonna have to explain it five times!"

I see what you mean, but air across your face when you're hot and sweaty is going to feel good no matter what your state of mind.

We went from a wrist cuff to a whole suit?!? Since this is the limitation, how about a combination device, something that circulates water around the wrists to cool the blood, has fans that cool the water and fans that can direct air at your face (or anywhere else) as well? Takes care of the psychological and the pysiological at the same time. You would probably need one on each wrist and they would need to be at least 4" wide to accomodate all the stuff you're putting in there.