torn asunder

regarding nightgaunt's & gaf's last posts... :clap:

the only place in the entire *country* where i know more than one person/couple is over there. i spend enough time alone in k'zoo, i'm not interested (right now) in moving someplace i don't know people. point taken, though, i guess it's still something to consider...

great! thanks for the input! i'll leave those out...

i know this can be a passionate topic, but let's try to keep it respectful, ok? there's no reason to be implying or directly name-calling when discussing this, so try to make your points like a civilized person.

adding inkster & westland as well, now...

i'm currently looking for places i might like to move, around but not in, detroit. general areas i've been looking at are pretty widespread, but are approximately as follows... roseville, eastpointe, hazel park, ferndale, oak park, southfield, redford, dearborn (& heights)... the reason i'm centering my thoughts here are because i'm finding a lot of foreclosed homes in these areas that could be picked up dirt cheap. (of course, i'm open to hearing about any other areas you think might be worth investigating, too!) anyone have any knowledge of these areas, or maybe live/lived in them, who might be able to shed some light on things like crime rates, property taxes/utility costs (water/sewer/etc)?

i'm thinking that i have no energy to work out tonight, so i might as well get cleaned up & go out for a bit...

i didn't get thru the whole video, but it just looks like a japanese-cosplay version of WWE to me...

we haven't had income tax forever, you know. it was instituted to help support the civil war effort. in comparison, this "tax" we're discussing on health care is designed (i think) to support americans' physical well-being. i'm perfectly happy to pay into social security, as i believe in supporting and taking care of the previous generations who made my life here possible. we promised it to them, we should keep our promise. i also agree with this idea. i don't know socialism, fascism, communism, etc - i haven't studied them, and i don't particularly care to. i believe that we need to take care of each other, as a society. even if one might not personally believe in /participate in modern medicine, i think one has a responsibility to their peers, their fellow citizens, to help them remain healthy, to help them live a fulfilling life. we all pay taxes for roads, for infrastructure support, etc, even if we don't utilize all of what they cover. i don't see people freaking out about that. this seems to be something meant to help the community at large, but it seems people would rather have everyone fend for themselves. hell, i don't even know where i'm going with this anymore!

dude, lighten up, e...

it really sounds like you need to work a bit on learning how to open/close your "gateways" through meditation of some sort. a lot of meditation deals with opening yourself to the universal energies, to enable yourself to circulate/accept the combination of "heaven" and "earth" energies to harmonize/balance you, and to help build up your energy reserves. in most every meditation i've ever seen, there is a final few moments dedicated to "closing", or "sealing" off your energy channels to prevent unwanted energies from disrupting things. if you don't close them, you can not only lose what good you did during your energy work, but you can open yourself to really negative influences and even sickness. i have a couple of books i can recommend, if you'd like. feel free to pm me! (that goes for anyone else in this thread as well!)

i only ever watched it for allison hannigan...

spending 3 hrs on the cycle today, taking roads i've never seen, going places i've never been, making choices on a whim... such a beautiful day!

and let's keep in mind, people, this is all in fun, and there is no intent to slight anyone if they're not listed. so just have a good time with it, and don't take it personally if you're not mentioned, or not voted for "enough", or something, ok!?

can't be true, otherwise, tim allen would be *ripped*!!!

they all pay social security taxes, and income taxes, how is that any different? and really, rev, try to stop taking things so personally. phee wasn't ridiculing anyone, he was trying to make a point with an obvious absurdity. you seem to have this tendency towards having a persecution complex when it comes to anything remotely spiritual, when that's not what's going down at all.

YaY!

if i had a job over there already, i'd think about it, as that's one of the places i want to move - alas, i don't...

this is what i was getting at - i mean, if we're still discovering this many, how many more are out there of which we're unaware!? and sorry, no, i don't have any specifics...

i had the impression that SOTG was referring to himself with the... comment. maybe i'm wrong!? as for me, i'm usually quite attuned/sensitive to other people's emotional state and can recognize and adapt to them rather quickly. i tend to try to balance others out by leading them the opposite way if they're *overly* emotional in any direction, but sometimes, i find people i just can't be around without it affecting me, and i have to leave. i've been told that i have a positive/balancing effect on people, but i think that may be digressing a bit...

my "routine" isn't set in stone, but is generally as follows: 4x/week - compound lifts (squats/deadlifts, bench/rows, shoulder press/pulldows), + accessory lifts (curls, tri's, shoulder prehab work like face pulls, wall slides, external rotations, YTWL's, etc) 4x/week - running directly after lifting, between 2 - 3.7 miles per run. 1-2x/week - 1 mile run + hill sprints w/pushups (currently 7 rounds for time - 0.1 mi. hill)

i see where you're coming from, and i agree with the sentiment, but the problem is that no two posts are alike - some warrant "unapproving" while discussed, some don't. again, everything is a judgment call. hell, there have been times where we've debated posts that nobody was offended/offput by, but we wondered how the rules applied to it. if we had made those invisible, people would have flipped out because there was nothing wrong with the posts. there are no absolutes in modding, just as there is no way to treat each unique post "equally", when posts are questionable. now, as far as rules-violating posts go, i'm fairly confident that the mod staff does treat them equally, insofar as each mod has his/her own unique perspective as an individual.

that's why there are "progressed" charts, based on the stars' current locations in the heavens... and yes, i think some are possible - i mean, we're still finding things we didn't know existed...

frankly, i'm a bit annoyed that the "mod favoritism" issue has come up again. i'd like to make a couple points... 1) *everything* is a judgment call. many posts are borderline rules violations, and as such, may take time to discuss & come to an agreement on what, if any, action to take. in the meantime, if we leave a post visible while discussing it, people think no action = condoning, and that's not true. on the other hand, if we make a post invisible while discussing it, people flip out over "mod censorship", and that's not true either. it's lose-lose, as a mod. 2) there is *one* type of "favoritism" that goes on around here, but it's precipitated by the behavior of the individual posters. if someone rarely/never causes trouble or comes close to breaking the rules, they most definitely will get a little bit of leeway if they have a questionable post, as they've proven that, in general, they know how to behave. a "problem" poster has shown through his/her behavior, that they don't know how to, or refuse to, abide by the rules, and they will be dealt with much more harshly because of it. that has nothing to do with the mods, it's on the individual. 3) nobody on this board (other than mods) really knows what goes on behind the scenes. it's not the mods' job to "inform" everyone of any action taken against an individual, and it's not something we're ever going to do, because honestly, it's nobody else's business. of course, if people don't know/see action taken, they make assumptions that "the mods didn't do shit to so-n-so!!", when they really have no idea if we did or not. still, there will always be cries of favoritism on the board. i wish people had enough faith in the mod staff to accept that it doesn't happen, but such is life. being a mod is a thoroughly thankless job outside of our own "internal mod pep-talk".