Y2HH

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 21, 2008 -> 10:16 AM) Well, that's not the case. Red Line to 95th, Green Line to 63rd, Orange Line to Midway. The south side is not AS covered as the north side though, so that's a strong argument to make. I wonder if that has more to do with expected ridership than anything else, though. Or did you mean that you think rail should cover the whole south side? Because there are all sorts of neighborhoods all around the city that aren't. I wouldn't want to take the red-line from that direction anyway, considering the neighborhoods it travels through... I'd sooner drive a Hummer at 9-10mpg than ride that train that direction/distance at night during the winter.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 21, 2008 -> 09:01 AM) That logic could be applied to the oil industry too... By keeping prices higher, they are assuring that more oil will be in the ground, because people can't afford. (should we need it in an emergency) Lower prices would put all of the people who work in the energy industry out of jobs (like they did in the 80's and 90's in Texas for example) The open land is better for the enviornment Should we be shutting down more refinaries and oil wells? If you pay someone enough, they will try to justify almost anything.

QUOTE (gosox41 @ May 21, 2008 -> 07:50 AM) Last year the Sox started out with the same exact record. It was right around this time that the bullpen fell apart (the offense was already bad.) Who would have guessed the Sox would have won only 48 more games from right before Memorial Day until the end the season. Also, last year the Sox high water mark was 4 games over .500. Same with this years team. Hopefully they'll break that tonight and extend this winning streak. And last years bullpen featured the veteran presence of Bobby Jenks. Not to say anything negative about Jenks...but when he is your "veteran", maybe you need to get a few non-teenagers on the team that have some long term experience.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 20, 2008 -> 07:32 PM) Another horrible bill. I don't get how the oil companies amongst others make record profits and it is a huge epidemic of horror. The people who put food on the table of every single person in the country make record profits, and the congresses solution is to give them more money, and it is hardly news. Its depressing. Do we really wonder why we have a deficit? Its the sum of bills like this crap. It's because 95% of this country vote these people into office not knowing anything about them, but because they belong to their "party". And I'm not even sure how they feel as if they became part of this party, it's as if political affiliation is something you're born with in this country. And THAT is what is depressing. Maybe if people knew half the stuff these people do/did or how they think as people they wouldn't be so quick to vote them in just because it says : Democrat or Republican next to their names on the ballots.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 21, 2008 -> 06:26 AM) All are demand based push and the exact reasons why crude oil is as high as it is. That is the arguement I have been making all along! Trading has nothing to do with it. This is all demand based. The only way crude falls is if we succeed in pushing the Chinese economy into a large recession, like Japan did in the late 80's early 90's. Well, I never meant to insinuate that the day traders were the ONLY thing inflating the cost of oil, but they aren't helping none, either. I don't mind when demand increases cost -- that's the name of the game -- but I do mind when I see profit reaping greedy tards helping to mess it up even more all the while these same people have the audacity to complain about the prices of gas.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 21, 2008 -> 07:59 AM) Is it fair to say that Alexei is already a better hitter than Uribe? Since Uribe got hurt and Alexei played every day he's gone 6-16 and raised his BA 50 points. It's fair to say YOU are a better hitter than Uribe, and you don't play professional baseball as far as I know.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ May 21, 2008 -> 06:34 AM) I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois. It is very nice and about 5-6 hours from Chicago. Not a fan of Eastern side of Shawnee, it's like a hillbilly ghetto scattered throughout portions of the forest (since it's smattered across small dispersed sections of private land.) If I was going to head all the way down to Shawnee, I'd continue on and hit the Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky (directly south of Shawnee)...talk about nice. It's a stretch of national forest land surrounded by Barkley/Kentucky Lakes that stretches all the way down into Tennessee. Offers everything from offroading, to camping/hiking/fishing...excellent place. I like it far more than most of Shawnee.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 20, 2008 -> 10:05 PM) Thanks for your comments. I'm glad you all like it. There is a misspelling in the banner, though...I'll fix it. Player of the month april year 2008.

QUOTE (shipps @ May 20, 2008 -> 04:29 PM) BTW,what are they planning on making that Jewel into? I'm not sure, I never asked the rumor mill section of my family yet... Such a sad state of affairs, I once worked at that Jewel (and the Osco that is now CVS), and although it wasn't the greatest store, it was convenient for a quick trip if my house of food was empty. :/ Now I have to drive all the way to Dominick's.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 21, 2008 -> 06:49 AM) Chris who? Srsly. Edit, I'm going to this game. Yay.

To add to my long post from before, which may be confusing to read at times (and went off course a bit), I have an example of what I mean by widespread speculation -- the guy in the cubicle next to me has been actively trading oil contracts all month long -- and he's just a regular guy dabbling in the market with less than two total years of market experience. All I'm saying is there are more people like that today than ever before because of how easy the Internet has made trading, and they are adding to the problem. Oil is out of hand as it is, and not because of shortages (as shown in the article above), but because of greed, wars, over usage and the price people are willing to pay to attain it, regardless of being able to afford it or not. I think I'm just annoyed by the entire issue since I hear people complain about the price *ALL* *THE* *TIME*, yet none of them have stopped driving their 13MPG SUV's. I bike to work 3-4 days a week now. So at least I walk the walk.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 20, 2008 -> 03:48 PM) Ok sweet, I'm gonna put a couple of these places on the list. My GF actually grew up in Spring Valley, which is about 10 seconds from Starved Rock and Mattheson (sp?). We've hiked those a number of times. Basically I'm an outdoorsey guy (grew up in the country down by Champaign) that used to go on camping trips all the time with my family and a few trips to Colorado and the Appalachian region with friends during college, but never really went out on his own. Someone else always had the tent, the tools, etc and I just stuck along for the ride. I bought a tent last week and decided I'm gonna go hardcore with it because I love to get out there (and I learned that after 4 years in the city, I miss open space and green things called trees). I def want to get up to the boundary waters some day, but I doubt my gf would be into that. While I think I could definitely handle that kind of trip, I think she's had enough hiking/being unclean after one weekend. I've also tried to set up a trip with friends to go to Isle Royal. That place looks awesome. You can launch into the first few lakes of the Boundary Waters (Lake 1-4), without issue and without having to portage, however, these lakes tend to be tourist filled. If you could get her to go there, she'd enjoy it...and if she was bothered by being unclean, jump in the lake and wash off...nothing much too it! Since it's so close to the launch, you could take less than a few hours to get back out if she wanted to call it quits...I highly recommend seeing it someday. I've got so much camping equipment over the years it's not even funny. If there was one bit of advice I could give, do *not* buy on the cheap. Pay high once, or pay low many times when it comes to this stuff. And a good, well-fit pair of hiking boots is an absolute necessity. Like I said in my previous post, if some of you haven't, look into Geocaching, you'd enjoy it...and it'd make your many hikes meaningful since there is a means to the end aside from scenery and exercise!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 20, 2008 -> 07:40 PM) I got that idea from microeconomics 101. You might be able to get a temporary pump from speculative buying, but then you get the same dump from speculative selling. It takes real demand to provide real price increases. That demand is coming from the US, China, and India. It doesn't take much demand to cause a price shock. The 1973 oil shock was caused by a 15% reduction in supply coming from the middle east which back then was about 35% of our total supply. The elasticity of energy is near zero. It takes barely any change in supply or demand to affect prices. Speculation has nothing to do with supply or demand. And finally just because speculators make a profit, doesn't mean that they create supply or demand. I don't think you understand the fundementally your theory doesn't work. For each crude oil contract that some buys, someone else has to sell them. If someone makes money, someone else loses money. In other words the total profits of the trading sector are a big fat zero, in fact they are a loss once things like exchange costs and the like are factored in. Now do you have any actual economic basis for any of your theories? Well, since this thread is about the current price of oil, the very thing I'm talking about is temporary pump in it's value. It's not like oil has been trading at 129$ for 100 years straight, this is new development, which is why I maintain it's temporary, and I believe speculators/hedgers have something to do with it. It's simply my opinion that they have more to do with it than others believe. That said, comparing the 1970's to now is like comparing apples to oranges. In the 70's, the gas shortage had thousands of stations without gasoline to sell, I have yet to see a single gas station with a sign outside that reads "out of gas/buy a bike", yet somehow the price is even higher (inflation adjusted) than in the 70's when they were completely dry! So we can't chalk this up to supply vs demand, since the supply still outstrips the demand, where it didn't in the 70's. That aside, the number of people involved in the market today is 500 fold over was what involved in the market in the 1970's, not to mention the market pump caused by modern day 401k's which also didn't exist back then. 401k's are almost like "forced" market investment, money that otherwise would have never touched the exchange(s), which is something people often don't consider when they talk about the modern market. Foreign investors are also more involved in the US exchange(s) due to the advent of the Internet and quick/cheap trading for people who wouldn't have even looked at the stock/commodities markets 20-30 years ago. All of these factors combine to magnify the trends/swings of the modern market. Look at the overall markets, commodities or otherwise, the numbers are there, so it's not like I'm just making this up. To counter your claim of someone buying thus someone selling equating to someone having to make money and someone having to lose money only happens AFTER the bubble pops. Until the bubble pops the money being made continues to rise, only the person who sold first makes less than the person who sells second, etc...but when the bubble finally pops, THEN the serious money losing begins...which is why it's called a modern day DOT-bomb. Of course this inflation isn't permanent, just like it wasn't permanent in the early 2000's when the .com boom hit the markets, which was also speculation driven. The fact remains, this commodities market IS being propped not only by the state of the world (foreign demand, wars, etc), but also by the speculative buyers/sellers and the hedgers gambling on the future price of the commodity. And it's not like the oil companies really want to stop them...I mean, why would they? So like I said earlier, we can agree to disagree. I've taken economics 101, and 202, and 505...and although you may disagree with my theory, I still think it has some weight. There may be something to what we are both saying, but I honestly believe with the current state of the market, and the fact that joe-blow is investing/ day-trading/speculating in it makes a huge difference whereas 30 years ago most joe-blow's didn't even know a broker would give him the time of the day. Believe me when I say I have experience in the speculator driven marketplace. I know how they think, and more than half of them think the market (stock/bonds/commodities/otherwise) = Las Vegas. And just like in Vegas, the house eventually wins.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 20, 2008 -> 03:40 PM) One could argue that the speculators and the hedgers are, TOGETHER, driving up prices by way of market manipulation. And I'd agree, to a limited extent, that is part of the high prices. But only a small part. It is not, nor can it be, just one or the other. Otherwise, there would be no trades, and no market. They have to meet on a price. That's the nature of the beast. I in no way meant to insinuate that the speculators were the only factor, and I agree about the hedgers doing their part, too. The speculators are betting on the falling dollar, hence the existence of these newfound hedgers, in which the spex can sell these contracts too, which they are willing to buy because they believe it will save them from inflation/the falling dollar. And while I admit this will work well in the short term for both, this bubble will eventually pop, and in the end some poor saps that were convinced by their local finance expert that they "can't lose", will do just that. But yes, I do believe there are many factors leading to this.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 20, 2008 -> 01:24 PM) Unless they are all taking delivery of those futures contracts. No. Every speculator has to eventually sell, or they have to figure out what to do with 1000 barrels of oil. Net effect is zero. That "speculators drive the market up" isn't true, no matter how many pundits repeat it. Yes, it does drive up the cost. If these speculators weren't turning profits, ie buying something like an oil contract for less then they sell it for, then they wouldn't be doing it. You don't have to take actual delivery on said contract to inflate its value, eventually whoever does take delivery paid the asking price on that contrat. Im not sure where you got that idea from, but it simply doesn't make sense to say speculators don't drive up prices. If thry aren't driving up prices, please tell me what they're doing? One way or another they affect to final outcome.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 20, 2008 -> 10:30 AM) With all due respect. No. Not even close. I don't know who is your economics professor, but he is wrong. I can do that too...check it out: No, you are wrong. Sorry to say, but without giving a reason, it doesnt automatically make you right. We can agree to disagree here...but i maintain that commities prices *can* be artifically inflated by speculators, and in the case of oil, they are being.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 20, 2008 -> 11:58 AM) Also, there are some nice camping and hiking opportunities around Oregon, Illinois, along the Rock River. If you ever want info on more backcountry stuff too, let me know. I can give you a ton. As someone said earlier, in the midwest as a whole, Boundary Waters is one of the best. But you can actually get even better experiences, with less people, in Quetico Provincial Park, which is on the Canadian side. Also look into Isle Royal, Voyaguers, and Pictured Rocks. But those are all more than 6 hours' driving. Doubt he's ready for that yet.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 20, 2008 -> 10:53 AM) So my GF and I decided this spring to become more out-doorsey and see this beautiful land we call the Midwest. I just "booked" a camping/hiking trip to Turkey Run in a couple of weeks and am looking for some input from anyone out there that's a big camper/hiker. My goal is to go camping at least one weekend out of every month so long as the weather is bearable. There's only a few stipulations: 1. the destination is within 3-6 hours of Chicago (so that we can leave on a Friday mid-day and get there in time to set up camp for the night) 2. we have a dog and she loves the outdoors so if possible the park needs to allow pets 3. we like to wind down by the fire with some brewskies, so alcohol must be permitted as well I've heard that North Kettle Moraine in Wisconsin has some good trails. Anyone have any suggestions?Any other place to go with cool trails? I go camping/fishing/hiking/mountain biking at least 30 times a year, but I'm on the hardcore side of camping experience. For example, last year I went to the Boundary Waters for 10+ days with some friends. Since you are somewhat new to the game, and are looking for places near Chicago, try a campground called Walnut Point in Oakland IL. I promise you'll love it. It has a denser forest than most IL campgrounds, a concession stand for snacks, and they even rent boats/paddleboats. It's right near Champaign, too, however they have drinking restrictions to keep the college kids out (meaning you can drink if you aren't an idiot) -- so it's pretty nice that you wouldn't have to ever deal with that. There aren't very many "really good" places near/around Chicago, but speaking as someone that's been to almost all of them, Walnut Point is one of the very best. Places like Bong suck, too many stupid college kids. Oh, and if you are looking for something really fun to do with your GF and dogs, look into purchasing a handheld GPS and getting into Geocaching, it's really fun. It's like treasure hunting with geo-coordinates. There is a website dedicated to locating Geocaches by zip code, etc. You then put the coordinates given into your handheld and go hiking back to find these hidden treasures. They range from easy to find to very complex puzzle solving in order to find. www.geocaching.com -- it's something you can do rain or shine to pass the time and have a great time together. A geocache is usually an airtight/watertight container with various trinkets and a log book inside, the idea is to take something and leave something and sign the logbook with your families names/dogs names, etc... I think you'd like it!

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 20, 2008 -> 09:31 AM) And bankrupt half the farmers in this country, as well as all sorts of food companies. That would be a very bad idea. Speculators do nothing but drive up the costs of resources in certain situations, these costs rarely, if ever, benefit the food companies or farmers. Take the prices of rice right now, speculator driven, alongside oil, gold, etc. Before these drastic price increases I didn't see farmers, food companies, or jewelery companies going out of business... So I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you here. Speculation is good to a degree, but this is and has gone way WAY beyond the degree of sanity. So perhaps I should rephrase. Kill all the vultures in the commodities market who are ultimately preying upon the poor, because there is no excuse for these prices anymore. The supply/demand curve is being completely ignored in these prices. It just makes no sense at all, this is market gambling at it's WORST. Oh, and I can't wait for this bubble to burst. I love laughing at newb speculators who sunk their 50k (or whatever small savings they have) into these ventures and wind up losing it all to the billionaires that didn't want them there.

The race is over. Those who refuse to see that are simply in denial.

Kill all commodities speculators. Fixed.

Born in Bridgeport. Still live in Bridgeport, around the corner from Puffers...or Mitchells now.

I'm not sure where some of these guys got the idea that CC is cake, but it's not. It's a scum ridden place full of gangs and criminals. The first thing you're going to notice is everyone sectioned off into their specific gangs/groups. You will quite often see whites with whites, blacks with blacks, mexicans with mexicans, latin kings with latin kings, etc...and no, this isn't a joke. So just go wherever you happen to fit in and keep quiet for a few days, because I highly doubt you're going to be in solitary for the duration, you will probably spend quite a bit of time mixed amongst them. You will get parolled early (probably after 4 days) as long as you're not a jackass that draws attention.

To quickly diagnose a blue screen error, when it pops up onto the screen to perform the memory dump, it will usually reference an offending file, dll or sys or otherwise. That file name quite often leads you to what the specific issue is. For example, if the offending file is called : nvm60x32.sys (that is an NVidia related driver), so you can then narrow your target down to either 1) graphics drivers or 2) graphics hardware. That's the simplist way to narrow it down without chasing wild geese, but instead focusing on the actual issue. And if you arent sure what that file is that is being referenced, just type into google and it will tell you what it belongs too. If no file is being referenced at all, it usually means there is some sort of hardware failure. I see you have a Compaq, so you would have to figure out if they do what Dell does, which buries their diagnostics onto a hidden partition on EVERY system they ship. For any/all Dell systems, to get to that hidden partition, just hit F12 a few times when you turn the computer on and it should bring you to a menu of what you want to boot from, there will be a Diagnostics partition which will let you test the entire system pre-boot, so the tech support guys will not be able to blame the OS you're using since these diagnostics are all run pre-boot. Compaq may have something similar to this.