O/T: OLd Farts

[Greg G]

LOL. I was wondering that very thing earlier this morning. Al Gore, of course. Oh, wait - he's not dead...

Greg G.

[Robatoy]

edited for LRod

[Tanus]

I'm still puzzling over the Fuckometer. Does it mean that I don't give a f*ck if it's Zero, or does that mean I really care?

OTOH, could it be that at full scale,

5000 is the ultimate in DontGiveAFuck?

Currently that meter is reading nothing, so does that mean,if the former is true, that Rob don't give a f*ck, or does it mean the meter isn't hooked up?

More information is required, I'm afraid.

[Greg G]

I'm afraid as well. It could represent the number of people who give a f*ck - which in this particular meter's case, is zero. I'm going to go sweep up sawdust at this point... ;-)

Greg G.

[Robatoy]

Actually, it is reading minus 3000 (-3000) Which, by my standards, means I couldn't possibly give less of a f*ck.

Da Meta don't go Lowa

It is in 'negative f*ck-giving-' mode.

Chandler (from Friends) would have said: "could *I* possibly give less of a f*ck?"

[Robatoy]

Ask and ye shall receive.

The Fuckometer(tm) stands at the lowest at about minus 3000. If it was indicating zero, it would be indictating indifference. Any position above zero would indicate maybe..just maybe that I gave a f*ck...which, by the reading of the published result, I don't.

[LRod]

It's only puzzling for people who think "I could care less" is an effective expression of their indifference. If one recognizes that the only proper such expression is "I couldn't care less" than the Fuckometer is perfeclty understandable.

I only asked Rob to modify it so I could use my own pet phrase which posits that the instrument has yet to be devised which could measure my indifference. In other words, I couldn't care less.

[Robatoy]

Sir, could we please have ONE white horse as well?

[Greg G]

OK - I got it. I didn't notice the non-linear, edited face which went below zero in my cursory exam.

There is a moral to this which I will add to my list:

Don't drink and drive unless it is in your own cow pasture. Never trust a lawyer or the subsequent politician. The woman is always right - even when she's wrong. (At least if you expect to get laid regularly.) Never drink preprocessed beer. And finally, Don't Usenet while Norming.

Greg G.

[Mark & Juanita]

... snip

Would vehemently disagree with that assertion depending upon the meaning of the word "unbridled". History also disagrees with that assertion. The most prosperous and free countries have been those with as close to a free market as possible.

On the other hand, bloated ineffectual, or bloated effective (read intrusive) bureaucracies have done more to destroy and ruin nations' ability to live well, and pose the most significant threat to a people's freedom and ability to prosper and do well than most any other influence. Again, historical examples abound: The Soviet Union, Cuba, China, and others.

Maybe not, but the following statement: ?So,? said Al Gore at the recent Bali, Indonesia, conference on global warming, ?I am going to speak an inconvenient truth. My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali. We all know that.?

Certainly falls into that category.

Yet there are massive deposits of energy yet unused: Oil shale in the west, Anwar in the north, coal deposits throughout the west. Oil and natural gas off the coasts of California and Florida. While we don't drill, the Chinese have started drilling off the coast of Cuba.

... snip

On that, we both agree. But I'm going to have a big ol' generator on the other side of my island to light my shop at night and power the tools. :-)

[Greg G]

You can have the white horse, I'll take the babe...

Greg G.

[Greg G]

BTW, is it just me, or does that lovely young lady have the largest feet I've ever seen on a nubile waif?

Greg G.

[Gerald Ross]

Feet? What feet?

[Tom Watson]

Pale Horse - Pale Rider.

The feet are beyond the pale.

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

[Robatoy]

Hence, there is no number where the pointer 'hits the pin'. I could have marked the pin with a -5000 mark, but that could have given ammunition to those who proclaim to give even less of a f*ck than that. This way, all we have is the minimal f*ck-giving background radiation.... at which point you simply could NOT care less.

[Robatoy]

Q: "What are you DOING?"

A: "I was using the horse to help satisfy my sexual needs, just like the guys in the barracks told me to."

Q: "They didn't tell you that THEY use the horse to ride into town to get girls?"

[Greg G]

By accountability, I mean not selling dangerous products as consumer goods, products that meet documented standards of safety, fair and honest banking practices, not looting retirement accounts of the elderly. Social responsibility, as opposed to every man for himself. That sort of thing. Avarice run amok is not a good thing. And without oversight, it seems to be the norm for human behavior.

China seems to be doing pretty well at the moment - for some... Seriously though, there are several Scandinavian countries whose standards of living and health care surpass our own. The Soviets were done in by graft, corruption, and lack of performance rewards more so than an inherent flaw in the concept of the evil dreaded socialism. We're not doing too well in that regard these days, either. The aforementioned Scandinavian countries have taken the best of both idiologies and melded them into a workable solution that apparently satifies the needs of the majority of their population. Perfect? What is? (Except our woodworking, of course.)

Not part of the speech, so I haven't heard that. And I have no idea what progress he alludes our interference with. But by the same token, our involvement in most foreign countries since WWII mirrors our own interests more so than the indigenous population's.

This is according to _some_ surveys. It ain't energy till it's delivered. Cost of shale processing is high. Coal is nasty stuff without scrubbers. And if China is drilling for gas in the Caribbean, then we better get in there because it's contiguous. They're stealing our gas. :-o

Eventually, and sooner than we would like to think, it will run out, and the last percentages will be expensive to acquire. Your grandchildren's children could well be left in the dark unless born into the aristocracy. Unless we find a way to break the H2O bond, or come up with non harmful waste producing fusion or "anti-matter" (Yeah, it's a Star Trek pipe-dream reference) reactors, it _can_ happen here.

The beauty of geothermal/wave/hydroelectric generators is that you don't need to pipe in fuel or pay an energy company; only the heat and mass of the sun, the ocean, and the earth. It IS totally renewable (except for the geothermal), non-polluting, and there is plenty of power there to run the shop 24/7. Just not 300 million shops. I personally want off the grid, and free from dependence on energy companies - particularly those who attempt manipulation of the markets for profiteering purposes. I don't care for being a cog in a machine which profits others more than I.

Greg G.

[Greg G]

[Greg G]

collection of past regrets:

I'm apparently a pig. :-) Damned lawyers... But they are all welcome to come and live on my tropical island.

Greg G.

[Charlie Self]

Dunno. But you've got to admit, they do a better job at lower cost than any adminstration in history.