von Baur

I've got Win7 on my gaming (ok, flying) computer built just over a year ago, because I wanted a 64-bit system and XP was getting long-in-the-tooth. But I still run XP on my "everything else" computer. I like it. I'm not overly happy with the looks of 7. Recently reloaded XP and got all the updates. Next step is to ghost it so I have a clean version available no matter what.

And his body count is zero. Several of the more severely injured have already been released from hospital. If he'd had a firearm... That goes along with something else I almost posted before. The advantage...the only advantage...a knife has over a firearm in this type of situation is its stealth. As some of the witnesses and victims said, even though they saw him walking down the hallway they had no idea what was going on until they started seeing blood. And even then it took a while for it to sink in. But if he'd had a gun everybody would have been more tuned in with the first shot, even before he came into view. So even though surprise was maintained for a longer period there were still no fatalities. And, please, remember that I'm pro-gun. I am, however, anti-a**hole (meaning the a**holes who do stuff like this, whether it's with a firearm, a knife, a vehicle, a bomb or their fists). Punish theose who've shown they can't handle the responsibility, not those who've shown they can in the vain hope of preventing these things.

Maybe that's why his character in "Last Vegas" wore a "USAF Retired" cap. Fan-TAS-tic movie, btw. Tuly a case of the whole being more than the sum of its parts. And considering the parts were Freeman, Robert DeNiero, Michael Douglas and Kevin Kline, that's quite a sum right there.

Ricardo Montalban, when asked in the 1970's or 1980's, why he kept acting and taking often "smaller" roles in movies said, "They have a name for actors who have stopped acting. It's 'unemployed'."

Well, weapons are only as dangerous as the person handling them. I believe that's what you're trying to say, Sky High. Several people posted after Sandy Hook that if someone bent on causing trouble doesn't have access to a gun he'll use a knife. I'm guessing that Crazyhorse was one of them. Still, a knife attack is generally not going to have the disastrous results of a gun attack (and I'm a gun owner opposed to excessive gun control laws). Any moron can rack up a high body count with a firearm and sufficient ammunition. You have to know what you're doing to come anywhere near that with a knife. Then you have the mother who turned her son in because she felt he was planning a gun attack. She came unglued when he was convicted, screaming that he should receive "help", not be treated like a criminal. She stopped short of saying it, but the feeling I got was that if she had it to do over again she wouldn't have said anything. This jackass had bought weapons and written down his plans to shoot up a movie theater, later changing the site to a Walmart because he'd have access to a lot more ammunition, so it was highly likely that he eventually would have done it. So I wonder how she would have felt if she hadn't turned him in and he had killed people?

Putin is a punk and a bully. And like most (if not all) punks and bullies he equates fear with respect. This wasn't valid thinking even when it was common thinking. **edit** Putin is a punk and a bully, just like Hitler was.

Oh! The humanity!!!

As the human companion of cats almost continuously since the 1970's, I can relate. Cats have never been domesticated. They've realized that it's advantageous for them to allow us to believe they have. A retiring USAF general was asked what he intended to do with his life. He said he was going to get cats...a lot of them. Asked why he said, "For the past 35 years everyone around me has done what I told them to, when I told them to and how I told them to. I want to see what it's like to be surrounded by living things who don't give a damn what I say."

Diogenes can put away his lantern. We've found our honest man.

Scary is the day that a country's leader follows staging an Olympics to show how far his country has progressed with "returning ethnically (insert nationality here) people to their historical homeland" and blames the rest of the world for acting like the Nazis AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!!!

The Air Force wanted a small, inexpensive figher to counter complaints about the money spent on the F-15 and F-16 (think of it as their version of a salary cap issue). So they took the back seat out of a T-38 Talon supersonic trainer and fitted it with weapons and modest avionics and, voila, the F-5 was born. Publicity tour, photo ops, "See, we're being responsible with your tax dollars". But it was never up to snuff with its big brothers. Northrop put bigger engines in it (along with some other upgrades, to be fair) and dubbed it the F-20. It quietly left the USAF inventory (although they may still use the T-38, I'm not sure, because it was/is an excellent trainer) after it started getting sold overseas as an affordable "front-line" fighter. I think some countries still use it. But God help the pilot if it ever has to go up against any serious fighters. But it does have great lines. As for Yeager, no disrespect intended but as I watched that I kept thinking about Robert Redford's character of Sonny in the early scenes of The Electric Horseman.

response 1: Well, thank God they cleared that up. response 2: I would have thought the opposite, given the reduced weight with all that annoying fuel gone. response 3: Thank you, Captain Obvious.

My father grew up in The Depression.His father left his mother and him at an early age. They moved from town to town, staying one step ahead of the bill collectors. He said he had eight different schools in seven years. He could have used it as an excuse for all sorts of bad behavior. Instead he used it as motivation never to let his children experience that kind of life. We never did. These people who say, "I had a rough childhood" can kiss my fourth point of contact (there's one for all you parachutists out there).

Hmmm... China's and Russia's look verrry similar.

THEY HAD EXTERNAL VIEW???

Tough call. But the bottom line is it's no place for a squabble, public or otherwise. If you really don't think you can endure whatever crap may be started, probably best that you don't go. The people who matter will know the reason and only think the more of you for it. And the ones who don't get it....well, I'd say what you can do with them, but you'd probably have to bleep me out. As my father-in-law was dieing I kind of took it upon myself, as the newest member of the family, to keep the grandchildren (oldest was still preschool) busy outside. My wife told me later that she knew how much I really wanted to be there with her and that she really appreciated the sacrifice I'd made.

Thank God for butchers and "thugs". Without them, against whom would the righteous and the freedom fighter have to rally their cause. And they're really rather indispensible if you want a good cut of meat.

My dad only told me about two incidents that he had during WWII. He flew B-17's and B-24's in a unit that trained bombardiers to bomb using airborne radar. Part of their duties had them flying over potential targets in Germany, all alone, to get radar images to be used during a future raid. He said after one such mission that he went to the club where Lord Haw-Haw was playing on the radio. Within an hour Haw-Haw called him out by name, "We saw you up there Lt. Bower. I hope you enjoyed your sightseeing." or something like that. He also identified other members of the crew. My dad said that that scared him more than the flight. The second had to do with a ripcord and caterpillar pin that was in our attic with most of the other Army gear that he kept. It seems that shortly after takeoff one snowy winter's day one of the engines quit on his B-17. "No problem," he thought, "we can fly the mission on three." After a short time another engine stopped. At that point he decided it was time to pack it in and turned the aircraft around and headed home. Unfortunately, the Fortress had other ideas because the third quit, too. Being aircraft commander he ordered everyone to bail out. Once everyone was clear my dad shut down the fourth engine and feathered the prop, shot a glance at the altimeter (right around 1000ft, as he recalled), dropped through the hatch just behind the cockpit, hung there for a second to make sure all four props were stopped, and dropped into basically zero visibility. He went in for the ripcord with both hands and pulled and...nothing!!! The only time, he said, that he hadn't checked his 'chute before takeoff and it turns out the bottom pin was bent (which I remember). He went in with both hands and finally pulled it and almost immediately after opening hit the ground. He told me that story after I'd been skydiving for quite some time. My only response was, "You have no idea how lucky I am to be here."

"And with that..." It's really that simple, isn't it. Shockingly. No trumpets, no lightning. Just... Steve Jobs said as his life was drawing to its end that he wondered what it would be like. Is there something after or is it like a light that just burns out? He said he hoped it was like the light. He later recanted that. I watched my mother-in-law and my wife pass. I was spared the pain of watching my father. Your life will be exactly the same sometimes and completely different others. The degree and frequency of the "different" varies with your closeness, both emotional and physical, to him. I find myself smiling and laughing at things I know my wife would have enjoyed. And a song we would have danced to will tear my heart out. There are movies I wish she'd been alive to watch with me. And movies I will never watch again. The same will be true for you, Dave. Well, maybe not the dancing part. Be happy for the time you had and try not to regret too much the times you won't. And remember the words of Garth Brooks's song: "Our lives are better left to chance. We could have missed the pain, But we'd have had to miss the dance."

Makes sense, considering the job they're designed for.

Fred Phelps, the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, died today. What's that? You haven't heard of him or the WBC? They're the holier-than-everyone-else group that has picketed, among other things, militaty funerals, citing that they all died as God's punishment for America's acceptance of gay rights. They also announced plans to picket a memorial for Hailley Owens (a Springfield, MO 10-year-old abducted and shot in the back of the head while duct taped to a chair), citing her murder as God's punishment for Missouri football player, Michael Sam, announcing he is gay prior to the NFL draft (these plans were cancelled when they realized how many people they'd be facing...apparently they don't have that much conviction in their faith...or faith in their god, for that matter). Now, I'm not a churchgoer. Haven't been for a long time. But I was as a child and into my young adulthood. And none of that meshes with what I remember. I remember stories about a forgiving God: stories about a God who was willing to spare multitudes of sinners in Sodom and Gomorrah if Lot could find ten righteous people, not a God willing to kill the innocent to just to make a point. You know who I was taught did things like that? Satan. I was also taught that Satan convinces the righteous that they know the mind of God (Adam and Eve and the serpent ring a bell? Anyone?). I also remember stories of His followers standing by their beliefs even though it meant their deaths: by stoning, crucifixion, given to wild animals, you name it. I think these people should reread their bibles themselves and stop letting someone else tell them what's in God's mind. Oh, and Phelps's son has asked people to respect his family and not protest at the funeral. My first response was that I would like to, but on second thought I wouldn't and would recommend no one do so. Not out of forgiveness, that's God's prerogative now. It's because I don't think he was worth the effort. And I accept God's judgement of me for having that attitude.

And they editted Bugs Bunny and Road Runne cartoons in the 70's because they were "too violent".

Reminds me of the story about the 80-year-old who was charged with rape. He was so flattered he pleaded guilty. But the judge dismissed the case when the evidence wouldn't stand up in court.

"That others might live"

And he can't understand why people look at him like he's strange.