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QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 9, 2010 -> 10:55 AM) The story says he saw them from his window, yelled at them, and fired as they fled. Then later he's quoted as saying they tried to run him over. Seems there are some inconsistencies in his story, so I tend to be skeptical of his claim that they tried to run him over. Needs further investigation. And I doubt the cops would have asked for all those charges if their investigation led them to believe he really was being threatened. The guy had gunshot wounds in his face, so that would lead me to believe the man with the gun was in front of the truck at some point in time.

My wife knows my passwords and all the message boards I post on are under my favorites on my home computer.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 1, 2010 -> 09:51 AM) In the end there's two major hurdles for the Bulls or Nets (or any other potential suitor): (1) money and (2) his "hometown" connection. To me it's like growing up near Comiskey, being a huge Sox fan, being drafted and playing for good Sox teams, and then being offered to go to a team like the Yankees that could potentially offer you a better chance at a title (but no guarantee) but also a lot less money. I don't think it's a slam dunk that you leave. I thought he grew up a fan of the Bulls and Jordan more than the Cavs.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 01:09 PM) As you shop different stores, you should be building a mental map of what costs what and where. You can go to store A week 1, store B week 2 etc. and stock up on what's good there to avoid having to go to all of them on the same day. Honestly, we do go to other stores when they have sales or we have coupons. But that probably only accounts for about 20% of our total shopping.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 01:06 PM) Which remains the definition of a convenience store. It's a different type of convenience store from the gas station down the street, but you're still paying extra for convenience. Not on everything though.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 01:00 PM) Exactly. It's a convenience store. Which means you're not paying the lowest price on most items and you shouldn't pretend that you are. I was actually comparing spending a couple of hours at Wal-Mart and getting everthing I need at once to spending half the day driving around to 3 or 4 different places to save a few bucks.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 12:44 PM) I've barely mentioned local small businesses. It's the manufacturing/ industrial jobs that have disappeared from this country that are bringing down the lower and middle classes, and Walmart's business practices are a part of that. Remember when they used to proudly advertise "Made in America"? Even "American" products aren't made in America anymore. A friend of mine was just looking at a Chevy that's assembled in Canada with an engine from China and a transmission from Japan.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 12:20 PM) I'm arguing against jobs disappearing and being replaced 1 to 1 at best with low-paying, no-advancement retail jobs. Are these mom-and-pop shops that are disappearing really offering better wages, more opportunity for advancment and better benefits?

I can't find the original post with the link it in but this report seems to have a flaw in it. It says that "Four of the five stakeholder groups are being served poorly". The groups are customers, shareholders, vendors, community and workers. According to the graph in the report, shareholder expectations are being met at 100% and customer expectations are being met at around 70%. Both of those are higher than anyone else. (which means it's only 3 of the 5). Wal-Mart is really, really good at making a lot of people happy.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 11:54 AM) Yes. And Walmart relies on them remaining on government programs to keep their prices superficially low. So instead of having a job and relying less on the government, you'd rather have them be unemployed and rely soley on the government?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 11:44 AM) hey, jenks paid for part of a year of college on less than that! what are these poor people complaining about! We end up paying the real costs of these goods through all of the government programs their employees rely on and the tax breaks they get. Walmart just gets to make big profit in the middle. Aren't these people already relying on government programs?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 04:04 PM) Like i said, between coupons, rebates, grocery stores, Walgreens, CVS, Target, Aldi, and occasionally a few other stores, I haven't had any need to stop at Walmart, I'm constantly beating their prices. If I want something higher quality, I'll go to the farmer's market or the organic store nearby. Then again, I have lots of options nearby. The whole reason why I'm inching towards your side is that in truly blighted areas, there aren't that many options. I would argue that you might be paying a little more on some items but you are saving on time and gas and sometimes convinience if you have to run out at 3AM and no other place is open.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 01:35 PM) The biggest thing from that turnover is going to be losing the senior programmers and their leadership and knowledge from their experiences. That's part of the reason I have my job now. So I can learn from these guys before they retire and gain more experience. It also helps that I already have 12 years experience in this field and I'm only 32.

An interesting thing is happening in IT. I know mainframe programming which has been around for a long time and continues to be used by a lot of companies. The first problem is that many of the programmers that know these languages are going to be hitting retirement ages within the next 10 years or so. The second problem is that there aren't very many younger programmers to take over simply because the languages aren't taught in schools anymore.

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Jun 17, 2010 -> 03:22 PM) So I just got a speeding ticket. Since this is my 2nd in less than a year I believe I have to do the eight hour traffic school to avoid it being on my record. I didn't get my first speeding ticket until I was 22, now I've gotten 2 within 1 year... ugh, wtf? Did you go to the traffic school for the first one? If you did, part of the deal is to not get another ticket within 12 months. That means both of them are now on your record.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jun 13, 2010 -> 08:45 PM) I know there's a few people that are really good bowlers on this site, so I thought I'd share: Started my first bowling league since I was 12, have a 176 average after the first week. Hoping to consistently be in the 190's by the end of the year. I forgot how much fun that game can be. I luv bowling. My problem when I came back after a long layoff is that I would usually bowl really good the first couple of weeks so that my average would end up being unsubstainably high. More than once I started a season with an average in the 200's and by the end of the year it would drop down the to high 190's. QUOTE (knightni @ Jun 14, 2010 -> 02:39 PM) Kids don't have a fully formed brain that has a true sense of right and wrong. No one gets that until they are older. Some never do. Most kids have sense of right and wrong. They just think that they'll never get caught. Thinking back to when I was a kid and all the crap I got away with, more often than not, they are right.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 14, 2010 -> 12:25 PM) Should riot police be able to open up on protest crowds if someone decides to throw something at them? I think riot police typically wear a bit more protection.

I've got Liberty Mutual and I'm paying 1585 for 12 months but that's for full coverage on 2 vehicles and a pop-up camper. I also have discounts because of multiple cars, and having our house insurance with the same company.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jun 7, 2010 -> 07:57 PM) How about the rules where each player has to play? I don't have a problem with that, considering how much parents have to pay just to get the kids on the team. That's not even including equipment.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 4, 2010 -> 12:57 PM) I know a lot of police, and exactly ZERO of them have ever helped another cop cover illegal happenings in their careers, and exactly ZERO of them said they would ever do such a thing. I stood right next to a cop while he was talking to another cop about how he got pulled over once for blowing a stop sign that he "always blows" (his exact words) near his house. Once the cop that pulled him over found out he was also a cop, he shut his lights off and didn't issue a ticket.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 11:37 PM) Also, it'd generate revenue for Reinsdorf, which in a fantastic world means we bid for bigger FA's in Soxdom and pay for drafting. I don't think he could do that even if he wanted to.

QUOTE (Controlled Chaos @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 02:05 PM) And some kids were better because they worked hard at it. I would practice with the team for an hour and then with my dad for another 2. I wanted to be the best out there and busted my ass to do so. Other kids didn't want to play or didn't have the passion I had. What's next, banning extra practice, to keep everyone on the same playing field? When kids are old enough to know the game then they're old enough to know winning and losing. Hell my daughter turns 4 Saturday and she has known winning and losing for a year. I don't know why one day out of the blue she said "lets race daddy", but I let her win and she was all excited that she "won" I never even taught her what "winning" was, but there she was throwing her hands in the air jumping up and down. You can bet your ass the next race, I taught her what losing was. Now I beat her about 1/2 the time. The first couple times she cried and threw a tantrum and I had to do some 'GASP' parenting. Now when she loses she says good race daddy. Kids are exposed to winning and losing with tag, musical chairs, red light green light etc.... They know winning and losing at 4 years old. Competition is a part of life...better that they learn to deal with it. What's really fun is when you quit letting your kids win and they still beat you.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 03:26 PM) And when it comes right down to it, if a team is running up the score every game, isn't that pretty much exactly where the idea of creating a rule to stop that comes from? Depends on the rule I guess. The rule in the OP actually punishes teams for being too good. Also there are some teams that can't really help it. There were two teams that my daughter played against last year that were pretty good. One was good because they always took extra bases even though most of the kids couldn't even throw the ball all the way across the diamond and they always put their best players at certain positions the whole game. We actually beat them once and they were PISSED. The other team was just good. They didn't take extra bases, they rotated the players positions around the field, they had fun and they still won.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 02:27 PM) First of all... Second of all...you're ignoring my main point here, and perhaps you're doing so correctly because I think I've gotten sidetracked...is there no good to come from learning the values of sportsmanship as well? This rule clearly is a poor way of enforcing it, but the talk here has been all about the benefits of teaching kids about winning and losing and how they should be ready to be competitive in everything and always try to be winners, but at least to me, the idea of having a good time doing something, or making sure everyone at least enjoys themselves, seems like its being lost here. That's the point I'm trying to make. Teaching kids about winning and losing and how to have fun while doing either one is on the parents and coaches IMO. There are some bad coaches out there that only care about winning and take the fun out of the game.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 02:05 PM) I think we do. Which is why American children are getting dumber and dumber. While the movie Idiocracy is off the charts, it's becoming more and more evident that that's the way this country is headed. QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 2, 2010 -> 02:26 PM) Its called social promotion and it happens all of the time. I actually thought about that after I posted it. I hear all the time about high school grads that can barely even read. I've never actually had any first-hand experience with it. I only failed one class in high school but I didn't really need it to graduate. I saw nearly half my classmates get held-back in second grade. Another friend of mine had to take Government twice in order to graduate. We were never given anything.