peelingchrome

I r haz a happee place!

What Marc, phee, bean, and Tyger said!!!! (sorry I'm a bit late to the party, everyone...)

Welcome to the party!

But I thought it was the music/video games/movies/tv/(insert scapegoat here) that were causing the kids to fail...

Link Highlights: -Graduation rate in this school district is <50% -Teachers in this school district make roughly 3 times the median income in the area -Teachers' Union wouldn't accept the terms of the proposed reform -All high school teachers in this school district have been fired (and now they're pissed) How 'bout that? I'll reserve my opinions for a bit to see what you all have to say.

Like the appetizers haven't been enough and dinner is the oncoming train at the end of the tunnel. Like it's been too long since my limits were tested and that will soon change. Like I can't wait to bare my teeth (and soul) in a victory yell again. Like a glass of wine and a good book would go really well with the snowstorm outside, but I'm at work. Centered.

“Life may not be exactly pleasant, but it is at least not dull. Heave yourself into Hell today, and you may miss, tomorrow or next day, another Scopes trial, or another War to End War, or perchance a rich and buxom widow with all her first husband's clothes. There are always more Hardings hatching. I advocate hanging on as long as possible.” - H. L. Mencken "At least once every human should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from supermarkets, that safety does not come from policemen, that 'news' is not something that happens to other people. He might learn how his ancestors lived and that he himself is no different--in the crunch his life depends on his agility, alertness, and personal resourcefulness." — Robert A. Heinlein What percentage of people have truly had to fight for their lives? That was what made me appreciate mine... and life goes on. I know tomorrow is deeply valuable, and that is the crux: to have a distaste or disrespect for your own life is to have a distaste or disrespect for all that life brings (and vice-versa).

Here's some examples of people "thinking for themselves"... mind you the source has a huge agenda, but the results of these three experiments are disgusting enlightening.

Last thing I knew the language of the First Amendment said this: And (the last time I checked) corporations and non-profit organizations were made of people. I don't see how anyone can disagree with this ruling. Government does not have unlimited powers with a few limited exceptions. Government has NO power with a few limited exceptions. Yeah, this ruling means that Exxon/Mobil and ABC/Time/Warner can advertise politically. But so can all the mom-and-pop shops all across the country. More people get a voice now. Fewer restrictions. I, personally, choose not to watch more than an hour of tv a week (I'm addicted to Chuck, more specifically Yvonne Strahovski) and I often watch it online instead of on the idiot box. If I'm interested in a subject then I go and do some research and ask questions of people I know. I start discussions with people whose intellect I respect. So what if some company gets to say some stuff? Hell, if I am actually exposed to one of their advertisements it might give me an idea to research. Now, if we could get some people in office that the majority of this country agrees with (Scott Brown may be a good start, we'll see how he votes) then we could work on fixing some of the higher-level bullshit. Like that thing I hate so much: tax breaks for medical insurance. I can hear the gasp now, and it's glorious. (let's not clog the thread with Health Care crap, pm me if you like) We may not like what someone else has to say, but that doesn't mean we can take away their right to say it.

Accomplished!!!

Oh, Yvonne Strahovski... *sigh*

Yay Obama! He's my hero! His batting average on his Sunlight Before Signing promise is up to .048!!! link And his pension is gonna pay him until the day he dies... GO TEAM AMERICA.

lolz... I got it, too, Rev (and while waking up!)... I'm fine with being single currently. She'd have to be one HELL of a woman to distract me from my current pile of projects, but I'm not opposed. I'm just a lot more picky lately. Let's see... full-time work, functional vehicle (still needs some work), teaching myself c++, learning modern networking (my last experience was with the Win2k Server line), trying to get this damn song out of my head, helping to write a tv series, and maintaining a small social circle all take up a lot of time. I find it funny that these are the things that women find attractive, yet they take time away from them. It's just the ruthless dichotomy of the soul...

The motive is manifold but clear. Suffice to say that the first one will be free and if/when there's a sequel there will be some profit potential. There is, most definitely, a story that shadowraith and I want to tell and it will take a long time to tell it. If that answer isn't clear enough, pm me (that goes for anyone, not just Invictus). I can provide a clearer answer, but since it's regarding copyrighted materials I want to keep it a bit more private than just posting it here in a thread.

So I'm starting a new project: I'm making a video game. For those of you that know me well, you're probably thinking, "Dude. Seriously. With the current price of cigarettes and how much you smoke while programming, are you retarded!?!?!?" No, I'm not retarded. But I am exercising some willpower over my code-smoking. Anyways, the point of this topic is-- Does anyone out there know Game Maker 7 at all? It seems to be a c++ derivative, with drag and drop for beginners, the ability to code for intermediates, and the ability to call custom .dll's for advanced users. If there's anyone out there with knowledge or interested in learning, I could really use the help. I've done a bit of programming in my day; simple QBASIC and VBasic (taught myself from the help file) as well as some MSAccess (again with the help file education). This means I know the kinds of stuff that code can and cannot do. I'm still messing around with the language trying to gain a modicum of fluency. If anyone is still interested, I'm trying to build a sci-fi game set in space. It's a top-down action/rpg style with a copyrighted story (shadowraith's story, actually). It's damn spiffy, if I do say so myself. So, to all game junkies and coders out there, jump on board and help us out! PS If anyone is interested, I can post updates or just email copies to them. Let me know...

Here, here!

Just tossing my two cents into the mix, here. We do not need health care reform. There is nothing wrong with our system, relative to other countries. I say this because our national life expectancy has hit an all-time high ( NYTimes) and, when removing traffic accidents and homicides from the data, America has the highest life expectancy in the world ( this table). In short, we're living longer and (controlling for asshats and idiots) we're number 1 IN THE WORLD. Um, why do we need health care reform? WTF?

Good point. Also, do I remember correctly that (in the current version) there is to be a Death Board set up? I could be mistaken, but I believe this version makes provisions for a board to decide who lives and who dies based on condition, age, availability of care, and cost of care.

Hey, E, sorry to hear about all of that. I finally got to meet you camping, and I have to say you're a truly good person. You don't deserve that kind of crap. In fact, imho, that is exactly the type of crap that is making our world as terrible as it is. When a person is punished for doing the right thing (putting in notice for leaving a job) and rewarded for doing the wrong thing (profiting off of being a sleazy bastard) I call that ass-backwards and epically shitty. Where's John Galt when we need him?

So true, so true... Rev and OMG, all I have to say is keep on rockin out the "you" that you do. And to Jr. Goat: BRAVO! It's rare to find an intelligent kid as kind as he is, much less with two strong and supportive parents who teach him solid morals. Keep up the good work, all three of you! And for the rest of you freaky-deaky-geeky types: Have you hugged an ignorant person today?

I'm terribly sorry for your, and more prominently their, loss. These are the kind of people that the welfare systems were meant for; not the ones who game the system with 10 kids, no job, and a Cadillac. There HAVE to be options available to them. If this doesn't get handled, I'd suggest someone take this story to President CommunObama. Maybe he'll bail them out, too. At least they DESERVE the bailout...

BUMP! Gotta keep the hype alive! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY CAMPING!!!!!