RockRaines

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 5, 2016 -> 02:35 PM) Terrorism is happening all over the world. I don't think it is a little blip at all. We invest billions in it and are currently at war all over the world largely driven by it. So to call it a little blip seems pretty crazy. We benefit greatly from being isolated geographically (vs. Europe), but it is a real issue and a real threat. That doesn't mean I walk around the world worried about it, but the reality is their are a lot of radical people in this world willing to give their lives to kill innocent people for the "greater" good (in the terrorists confused eyes). To have a successful government you need to have safe borders and a safe society, education, and good quality infrastructure, imo. I do agree with you that some people overblow it in the grand scheme of things (like plenty of other issues). And of course what one person finds important can drastically differ from what another person finds important. But in general, having a country relatively free from terrorism, benefits/impacts every single citizen of the country. in THIS country its a tiny blip. In terms of deaths of US citizens its extremely minor. Worldwide there has been about 300-350 US deaths by terrorism in the last decade. On average that is 30 per year. For comparison, texting and driving kills 11 TEENS every single day.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 5, 2016 -> 02:24 PM) The whole thing on both sides in relation to this matter is a giant f***ing waste of time. Our government has far more important things to deal with that they have been ignoring forever. No one has gotten much anything done in Washington in recent time. We have an economy, low rates, defense issues (terrorism), etc. Yet we are wasting our time on s*** that impacts what, .1% of the population? Focus time on how to deal with income inequality, etc. The amount of time that gets spent on something that impacts so few people is just completely absurd. It is kind of like when congress was wasting its time on steroids in baseball when this country had far greater issues. Terrorism is such a tiny little blip on the radar of issues with this country its hilarious how often its brought up.

Rodon may have one of the best sliders in baseball, its a plus plus pitch. He just gave up his first HR to a lefty in his career. Kid has future top of the rotation guy written all over him. it was a great pick.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 5, 2016 -> 02:19 PM) I'd give my kid the exact same lecture. By harsh, you mean give her kid a dose of reality (and keeps them grounded), then yes. Keeping the families very involved in the program has really been a good move, they sit in on player evals every year. I love parents that still rule the roost for this entitled stars.

Mrs Elliott and Mrs Lee are also awesome. Great great families. Darron Lee's mom is a pretty prominent news anchor.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 5, 2016 -> 01:15 PM) Boylen is one of the few guys on the staff that I have any faith in. So it would figure he'd head elsewhere. Yes, I am that down on Hoiberg. Honestly, I think Del negro would be an upgrade and that says something. I will admit, that he clearly could learn in year two, but if he has a 2nd year like his 1st year, you have to cut ties. Id rather have Vogel than Hoiberg

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 5, 2016 -> 11:07 AM) What I've learned from this whole public debate is that a much larger percentage of people than I originally thought assume that other people think of public restrooms as some kind of erotic playground where they have to check sexual urges. I dunno, man. I go in there to s***. Seriously. I spend alot of time in airport bathrooms as I travel a ton. It literally impossible for any feeling other than complete disgust

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ May 5, 2016 -> 11:10 AM) No doubt, however, as I pointed out, using the example of the park district rule at the beginning of this thread, some of these laws/ordinances/rules basically say as soon as someone identifies as being transgendered, that person has a right to be in the bathroom. In a case with a man taking photos of women in a woman's bathroom, the mere fact that he's in there is criminal, and then anything he's claimed to have done in the bathroom is going to be easy to believe. But if he can claim he has the right to be there and he wasn't taking photos, he was just looking at his phone or whatever, the prosecution is much harder. And even if he's just present and making people feel uncomfortable, as in the case of the girls swim team, there's nothing that can be done. He's in there. Whether he's doing anything or not, they feel uncomfortable. Why is that an OK thing? That guy didnt have female on his license though. Taking it to that next level is something in itself.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 5, 2016 -> 11:05 AM) But the idea that this would give him some sort of loophole doesn't make any sense. It's still illegal for a woman to do what he was doing in the bathroom, just as it'd be illegal for a man to take those pictures in the men's room. Exactly, the only right he has is to go into the bathroom or locker room. And he had to change his ID for the right to do that. The outlier of all outliers.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ May 5, 2016 -> 11:02 AM) I don't disagree, though I'll say not having marriage or some official designation of coupling creates problems when it comes to estate/property concerns. I meant having any restrictions on who you can marry.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ May 5, 2016 -> 11:00 AM) Right, and the problem with giving people who self-identify the "right" to be there is that when it comes time to prosecute that guy, it's much more difficult because he has the "right" to be there. And that guy went out of his way to declare himself a woman for all intents and purposes in his life. He has to answer that question when he gets on a plane, goes to a bar, every place this guy goes it will say female on his license. Is it really worth it to that guy?

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 5, 2016 -> 10:58 AM) I'm okay with this, but I don't see the need to enforce this. They've been here the whole time and the vast majority of the time people don't even notice. Agreed, but the one time that someone freaked out and called the cops etc is the reason why. Personally I dont want people of any sex that I dont know creeping at me in a locker room. Its bad enough I have to see the old men walking around naked every single minute

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ May 5, 2016 -> 10:54 AM) So why do we need laws in either direction? I don't support the NC law, but the laws/ordinances that are being passed that give transgendered people the right to be in certain places just invites more problems than it's worth IMO. You basically just nailed the reason why marriage laws shouldnt exist.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ May 5, 2016 -> 10:50 AM) What's stopping the creep-o guy we're talking about here from being able to designate that he's a female? It's not like you can perform a test to determine your gender identity. well, if you want to be a female to everyone in the world then you can be a female. If creeping means so much to you that you no longer want to be considered a man, then there you are. This type of freak probably is already dressing up as a woman to enter bathrooms and locker rooms already anyway.

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 5, 2016 -> 09:54 AM) This whole "transgendered women are going to sexually assault girls in the restroom" is simply not a thing. To the extent this even happens at all, it doesn't happen often enough to deserve any kind of discussion. "Men will pretend to be transgendered women" also sounds like a made-up fear that people came up with only recently, and it's a poor interpretation of what transgendered people are asking of everyone else (which is simply no more than "stop threatening and harassing me when I'm trying to take a piss"). If it says male on your license you go to the mens locker room, if it says female thats where you go. If you do the opposite you get in trouble. Pretty much whats going to happen. Of course this depends on true trans people being allowed to put the sex they identify with on their license.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ May 5, 2016 -> 07:07 AM) Opinions on long-distance relationships? Its probably better nowadays but I had one in college that was a disaster. She was in AZ and I was in OH. Jealously, cheating etc was awful. If I could go back i wouldnt have done it. Lots of fish in the sea

If he wants SF he is going to pitch out of the pen. Otherwise he's a minor league flier at best. He's toast.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 3, 2016 -> 10:08 PM) Nobody must have told him that you can only play one goalie in net at a time, not two. They've got some salary cap issues on the way too

If this team can somehow get to 20 over .500 then they can go .500 the rest of the way and be fine

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 3, 2016 -> 12:16 PM) I was there for a wedding last year, the downtown area had enough going on to have a fun weekend. If the Bears played there, I wouldn't be against going for a Saturday-Monday jaunt. But yeah, overall it looked like it really f***ing sucks. Dont go to Cleveland for a Bears game. They are horrible to you.

QUOTE (bmags @ May 3, 2016 -> 04:44 PM) Shoulder injuries suck. We have had such incredible luck, but this one hurt pretty bad in terms of 2012. Yep. Plus I guess ill need a new sig

End of an Era. The last of the dead weight

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ May 3, 2016 -> 02:34 PM) Anything in the "audiophile" market is just bonkers. $250+ for solid copper power cords (what's the wiring in your wall and from the nearby transformer, lol), thousands of dollars for a single interconnect, hundreds of dollars for wooden knobs, etc. I just had a pro help me with hiding all of my components as I couldnt do all the work and the markups on just about every single wire and rack was hilarious. I got a list of what we needed and saved about 90% of the cost. Computer networking stuff is the same.

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 3, 2016 -> 12:07 PM) I don't typically like to get in the "books vs. show" debate but the show moves much faster without being tied to the books and it's not affected by the dullness of the past couple of seasons. They waste no time. Arya was on the streets for 2 episodes, and I feel like before, she would have spent half the season there. Arya's story arc is one of my favorites in the book but I am anxious to see what becomes of her after her training anyway

QUOTE (Tex @ May 3, 2016 -> 12:42 PM) Sorry. I'm doing a terrible job of making my point. From a manufacturing cost standpoint, a cell phone can not be that much more expensive to manufacture than a basic lap top yet they sell for hundreds more. All the things you are mentioning are true about why the demand is greater than for a cell phone. How does depending on their cell phones cause the phone to cost more to manufacture? The profit margins on phones is crazy. Sure, the margins are pretty high, but they are full with state of the art technology. Want to see a high profit margin? Check out HDMI cables. Its insane