Never went on public assistance - worked the fields in Idaho first, then bought land when they saved enough money and moved to California. Learned English in less than a year basically by immersion - she failed her first year in school because they didn't know the language, but were OK after that.

Yeah, the Germans keep their shit together. I'm ashamed to admit it, but there's actually a bit of predjudice over here against the Germans, with the all the annoying German RV's everywhere in the summer, and, you know, the wartime occupation and shit. We sure love them German cars though, so that will probably go away as soon as those that actually experienced the war die off.

___________________________________________
GW: Vergil Gregorius, lvl 9 12 13 W/Ne
Britney Constantine, lvl 16 19 20 Ascended Ne/W

"People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people"

Heh, I am of course, just fucking with you, man.

nah, it's cool. My grandfather fought the Russians in WWII (front-line grunt). He said nobody wanted to fight (make love, not war? ), but they had to, and they hated the Russians. My mom came over when she was 9 with the rest of the family (1951?) after they got a sponsor through the Lutheran Church. Never went on public assistance - worked the fields in Idaho first, then bought land when they saved enough money and moved to California. Learned English in less than a year basically by immersion - she failed her first year in school because they didn't know the language, but were OK after that.

I guess now you might know where a few of my views come from....

Edit - Oh, and they grew to love the USA and especially California - my grandparents said it was like being in heaven - good weather, crops grew well, etc.

BTW, you now know that my 50.6 k connection is now blazing away!

*** Warhawk ***

Your repeated violation of the Verbal Morality Statute has caused me to notify the San Angeles Police Department. Please remain where you are for your reprimand.


This comment was edited on Dec 21, 23:52.

And again since it's illegal, what will the insurance company say about it?

It's the same as leaving your door open on your house, under the law it's not an invitation for people to come on in. Nor is leaving your keys in your car an invitation for people to get in and drive away. The only reason it's "illegal" is to help cut down on insurance costs.


"Many defendents get religion when they want mercy from the court. When you see me coming out for Jesus, you'll know they really have something on me."
- HST

Yep - saw that and will order later tonight.

No discount on Kong, though? Best Buy is selling it for $30 this week. I have not played it much, only about twenty minutes in (which the game states as some 11% done - <gulp>,) but all the reviews were right. BG&E is a far, far better game...
Ugly, too little ammo, weak non-gun weapons, rough bits, etc.
Hoping Stubbs will be fun at least,
Ray

Edit: Code fix.
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http://users.ign.com/collection/RayMarden
http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=ray_marden
http://www.livejournal.com/users/raymarden/
I love you, mom.
This comment was edited on Dec 21, 22:19.

Quite a good set of pictures. Maybe not quite as good as Time's but pretty darn close. It wouldn't work in Firefox for me, so if you're a deviant like myself, fire up IE.

My favorites were the picture in Iraq of the sunset reflection, the picture of the Buddhist monks (probably my favorite), the shot of the man walking through the rain in the reader's choice section and the red barn photo.

I do have point of contention: why does everyone always vote for the patriotic flag-draped coffin pictures? All the pictures of the year have the readers as picking that as the best. Most of the pictures haven't been that good. The MSNBC one here even bordered on bad, yet the readers picked it as the top picture.

And what is good, Phaedrus, and what is not good -
Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?
http://citizenb.com/ - Shameless website plug.

This comment was edited on Dec 21, 21:25.

This morning a friend's wife was leaving their house at 6:00 am and she couldn't remember if she had locked the front door, so she gets out of the car and walks to the door to make sure. As she's turning back to the driveway she sees a man getting into the vehicle. She screams, he drives away. Bummer, huh?

I worked w/ a guy a few jobs ago that lost his vehicle almost the same way. It was a brand new truck, and he stepped back into the house to let the truck warm up in the driveway.

When he came back out? No truck.

The insurance company actually worked with him, but I can't imagine what they did to his rates...

If she didn't go to the door would he have drug her out of the car to steal it?

An excellent question. Perhaps it's best that he just took the vehicle and left...




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GW: Nilaar Madalla, lvl 20 R/Mo / Tolyl Nor, lvl 20 E/Mo / Xylos Gath, lvl 13 W/Mo

http://www.goldfrapp.co.uk/

Honestly, it's about the geekiest story you can imagine. I'll let Z share it, if'n he wants.

IIRC, didn't it all start in an MMORPG? Bless.

Ah well, with Z gone for a while (have fun buddy) we can just make up whatever we want Off you go Enahs... how did they meet

___________________________________
This post is shamefully brought to you using someone else's unsecured wireless network

I looked up 'Santa' in wikipedia just now, and after a couple of clicks I was reading the entry for 'FHM'... Guess we all gravitate towards what we're really interested in, instead of what we pretend to be interested in. Ah, anyway. Just back from King Kong. Fuckin' excellent. Best line; Jack Black saying: "I'm touching the hairy beast". Strangely, I was the only person in the theatre laughing...

___________________________________________
GW: Vergil Gregorius, lvl 9 12 13 W/Ne
Britney Constantine, lvl 16 19 20 Ascended Ne/W

"People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people"

I can see Warhawk dressing up as Santa, slipping on his black jackboots, goosestepping around the neighborhood asking children for 'zeir papahs', interrogating them if they've been naughty or nice.

Sorry Warhawk, but that one made me laugh.

-------------------------------------------------------
I think a good gift for the president would be a chocolate revolver, and since he's so busy, you'd probably have to run up real quick and hand it to him. - Jack Handy

This morning a friend's wife was leaving their house at 6:00 am and she couldn't remember if she had locked the front door, so she gets out of the car and walks to the door to make sure. As she's turning back to the driveway she sees a man getting into the vehicle. She screams, he drives away. Bummer, huh?

Here are some things I'm curious about with this situation:

If she didn't go to the door would he have drug her out of the car to steal it?

Since it's illegal here to leave a running car unattended, even in your own driveway, will she get a ticket? (probably)

And again since it's illegal, what will the insurance company say about it?

Another thing is that she never leaves that early, it was a one time thing, so I doubt the guy was staking out the house. So I guess what happened was a car thief was just walking around this nice neighborhood waiting for someone to get in their car - at 6:00 in the morning.

-------------------------------------------------------
I think a good gift for the president would be a chocolate revolver, and since he's so busy, you'd probably have to run up real quick and hand it to him. - Jack Handy

What better way to spend these dark cold days than in a big pile! Not that I would know anything about that

I put the grrrr in swinger baby, yeah!

I did?

Wait a minute...you're Mr. Lebowski. I'm "the Dude", man.

Good thing we don't have near as many rabid Jesus freaks as the U.S. does or you'd never hear the end of something like that. Goddamn, Jesus freaks really piss me off.

And Warhawk, you're of German stock? Well, well, well, that would certainly explain a lot.

I can see Warhawk dressing up as Santa, slipping on his black jackboots, goosestepping around the neighborhood asking children for 'zeir papahs', interrogating them if they've been naughty or nice.

Heh, I am of course, just fucking with you, man.




"Many defendents get religion when they want mercy from the court. When you see me coming out for Jesus, you'll know they really have something on me."
- HST

This comment was edited on Dec 21, 19:51.

...I'm still a Pagan ! ( "come on rites of spring"...)

"Oh, by the way...so it doesn't come as a shock to you ...Iran is NEXT".

Also, don't forget Frohe Weihnachten!

A lot of Christmas traditions come from Germany, for a brief example, see here:

http://www.german-way.com/christmas.html

Not a shock considering the number of German immigrants into the country over the last couple hundred years.

My side of the family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve (traditional for German families), my wife's on Christmas Day. Makes it easy to attend both, as both live less than 1 hour from us.


*** Warhawk ***

Your repeated violation of the Verbal Morality Statute has caused me to notify the San Angeles Police Department. Please remain where you are for your reprimand.

I would love to try that mission with you guys rather than bots. Not sure when I will be able to, though. This week looks rough, and I know Rask won't be on until next week. Next time we try, I'll look to see if any of you are on.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10561253/

What better way to spend these dark cold days than in a big pile! Not that I would know anything about that.

My pagan roots tell me it's time for the mid-winter offerings to ensure the return of light or some such...

My pagan roots tell me there's not enough fucking in the world...



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GW: Nilaar Madalla, lvl 20 R/Mo / Tolyl Nor, lvl 20 E/Mo / Xylos Gath, lvl 13 W/Mo

http://www.goldfrapp.co.uk/

dont forget yer pagan roots

My pagan roots tell me it's time for the mid-winter offerings to ensure the return of light or some such...

dont forget yer pagan roots

Happy Yule! Happy Saturnalia!


"Many defendents get religion when they want mercy from the court. When you see me coming out for Jesus, you'll know they really have something on me."
- HST

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Sublime Solstice, Joyous Kwanza, etc. to everyone -- we're flying off to exciting and temperate Wichita, KS tomorrow (relatives) and won't be back until next Tuesday.

And to you and Heather as well! All the best in the new year!

(thought it was "Happy, sexy Kwanzaa" though..)

*shrug*

Have fun! Be safe!


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GW: Tashen Boke [R/Me]; Rosti The Ninja [Mo/R]; Gort Grimley [W/Ne]
This comment was edited on Dec 21, 16:30.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Sublime Solstice, Joyous Kwanza, etc. to everyone

God Jul & Gott Nytt År!

Have fun all of you guys leaving already for holiday break. Now I know why it feels like Friday today.