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10/28/2005 Talking about A weakened Bush faces new risks - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.comSeeing how the Harriet Miers supreme court nomination didn't go so well- she withdrew herself from the nomination. Added to this, it hasn't exactly been an easy month or two for the Oval Office staffers. They blundered Hurricane relief efforts, the "battle for freedom" isn't going so well in Iraq. I believe this past week the casualties of American soldiers topped 2000. Bush's polls are pretty much at all-time lows. The economy isn't really helping him too much and supposedly economic prosperity is the strong-suit of Republicans, or at least that's what is at the core of their beliefs. Gas prices have pulled back recently but the high cost of energy is impacting the economy negatively. Consider all the industries affected: service, food/restaurants, retail, transportation, chemical, any manufacturer who uses plastics. American personal bankruptcies are at astronomical levels due to the high debts many people are carrying. In the first week of October, about 20,000 Americans each day were filing for personal bankruptcy. I think last year only 20,000 filed in the first week. Note some of this may be due to changes in American Bankruptcy law, that I believe takes affect later this year, if it hasn't already. Some people who are in a shaky position might just be trying to take advantage of a little more credit protection while they still can. VP Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff I. Lewis Libby was indicted on obstruction of justice charges relating to the CIA "Plamegate." Even Bush's Rasputin, Karl Rove, is under the microscope. So with about 2 years left in his term, is Bush a 'lame-duck' President at this point?
Quote A weakened Bush faces new risks - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com 10/27/2005 Canning Your Own BeerLeave it to university students to find the best deal on beer.
In the picture, from left to right, are my friends Andrew, John and myself. Our friend Brian took this pic since he's the only one out of our group who has a camera. So he's never in any pics unfortunately and the rest of us are too broke to buy even a disposable, I suppose.
This past Canada Day, John invited us over to his house for a bbq and dazzling fireworks, we took taxis down to the Falls to watch. It was a really nice way to spend an evening.
What was hilarious that night were his friends Tom and Aaron. They knew exactly where to go everynight for the cheapest beers. I think it was Tom who said he went to the one of those brew-your-own beer places to pick up a keg. I guess you can do it yourself but they do have ready-made also. Of course this is cheaper than a label.
So I guess he didn't finish his keg so they took the remainder back, and I guess they had CO2 pumped back in so it wouldn't go flat and then they ended up canning the remainder themselves so it'd keep in the fridge. Tom claimed it works out to $18 for 24 cans. Filled up his fridge too.
Not bad if you don't mind sealing the cans yourself. Can't get enough of that wonderful Duff (beer)Kind of a funny thing my dad said once. Well,I thought it was funny.
Funny but mean which is actually his kind of humour. I was saying how I saw some people riding their bikes from the beer store, steering with one hand and 12-pack tucked under the other arm. I thought it'd be such a waste if the if they fell or dropped the beer.
It's right in their blood basically, they're like motorcycle riders they know how to fall- sacrificing their own bodies to protect the beer since they value the beer more than their body is basically what my dad said. Another bone to pickAnother car journalist who annoys me with what I perceive are more her biases than insights is National Post Drivers Edge writer Angela Forgeron.
Yes yes we know you hate minivans. Tell me about the B and R-Class Mercedes? So the B is preferred since it's smaller and less of a minivan.
Well that's useful, I guess.
What do you think about the Dodge Ram 2500 quad cab? It's big.
Really? You don't say? A 3/4 ton truck with 4 doors and a 6 foot box would be isn't compact? So disappointing.
Again nothing against accomplished journalists but I think you should review based on the attributes of a vehicle and what it's designed to do. Not on your own pre-conceived notions on what is desirable in a vehicle. You can certainly and should state what you would like to see but that shouldn't dominate the discussion. 10/26/2005 Porsche Cayman S(need to be a subscriber to access article)
The above link should take you to the Porsche USA website for their super-sexy new 2006 model, the Cayman S. This hard-topped vehicle is built off the Boxsters platform and, I believe, uses a bored out version of the Boxster S 3.2 litre 6 cylinder engine to 3.4 litres. Power is 295 hp versus 280 in the convertble Boxster. I think it is a bigger version of the Boxster engine rather than a de-tuned 911 motor.
The second link, must sign up to be a member if you want to access the article, is a Sept. 17/05 review by Toronto Star auto journalist Laurence Yap.
In terms of price and performance this 3rd sports car in the line-up slots above the Boxster and below the 911. The Boxster is already known as a handling dream car, a roof will only make the chassis stiffer and give the suspension a better place to hang it's hat, as fellow Toronto Star Wheels journalist Jim Kenzie might say. Early tests from various auto mags seem to confirm that, in fact it could be just as good if not better than pricier 911s is implied in some of the articles.
My problem with the Yap article is he focuses too much on type-of-vehicle rather than the attributes of his test subject. I mean the Boxster is a dream machine so any mods or derivatives of the formula are sure to elicit strong opinions. But I think his love of the Boxster biases this review.
First off, he questions why should a company spend resources putting a hard-top on a beloved car that might end up eating some of the sales. Well for one thing a business case was made by the company's management. No business will make any financial decision without considering the outcomes and justifications for it. I'm sure the people who question the green-light on the Cayman are the same people who ridiculed the Cayenne. Plus you're not losing any sales, they are just transferring from 1 model to another corporate offering and since the Cayman is priced above the Boxster they are probably making more money this way.
Next he bemoans the loss of the pleasurable intoxicating open-aired experience complete with wind in your hair, sun in your face and little birds bringing you sweet succulent berries as peace offerings when you stop at a light. Dude some of us don't want that much wind in our hair or sun in our faces.
If we did, coupes would be marginal sellers not convertibles. Sedans would be open-topped not just available with ever larger sunroofs and the PT Cruiser convertible and GMC Envoy with the opening roof over the cargo area would be the preferred family haulers instead of prime for either discontinuation or an overhaul.
For me, I can't stand too much wind noise, it bothers me. And I have a sunroof, just a small one which I open on sunny days. But after maybe an hour or 2 of running around the city with the hot sun baring down on me, I feel dehydrated and overcome. I'm sure other people feel that way, or they just consider a convertible as not being as practical in Ontario as it is in California. Point is, that the coupe version of almost any vehicle easily outsells it's convertible counterpart. The best selling convertible in the world, the Mazda Miata has only sold 700,000 globally over a 15 year window. Convertibles may get the looks and the glory but coupes win the parking lot battle.
Finally, why does Yap and, I think, the reviewers in Motor Trend and Road & Track apply this crap about open-air motoring only to the Cayman. By their logic only the convertible versions of sports car should exist right? Why should their be a coupe version of the Corvette or a Ferrari? This bullshit means Dodge engineers shouldn't have come up with the Viper GTS (coupe version) since you lose this mystical hand-of-God motoring experience that only comes with open air cruising. The Ferrari Enzo, I'm sorry it's just no good. It's not a convertible. So you see it's a piece of junk- you just don't experience the true driving experience.
Right. Let me know next time a bird shits in your backseat about that experience.
By the way i'm not against convertible though I do prefer coupes. I just hate reviewers who focus on their biases rather than the issue.
NFL's Falcons are the real deal?Above is a link to an article written by Mike Celizic, a long-time sports writer who freelances out of New York. In the article, he believes the Falcons will challenge the Eagles for the NFC conference title. No arguements here, they won their division last year, got pretty in the playoffs too- if I remember correctly they actually lost to the Eagles in last years conference game. Plus there were a pretty common pick to go far this year at the beginning of the season by all the so called experts.
The only thing I'm not sure of is the logic of his arguement. It isn't that Michael Vick isn't the most dangerous player in the game, and their running game is impressive with RBs Warrick Dunn and T. J. Duckett and their defense can and does come up with big plays.
But what convinced him they were good was how they beat the Jets? Come again?
We all know the teams that crush who they should i.e. Brady's Patriots or a Jordan-led Bulls squad. These teams showed no mercy, they do their job which is to beat good teams and really pound the bad ones.
Then their are the Toronto Raptors or the Leafs who have that annoying habit of playing down to the level of their opposition, losing when they should clearly win.
Well folks, cause the Falcons didn't play down to the injured level of the Jets, they are championship worthy. Maybe, who am I to say otherwise?
I just think a winning program means you can take on and beat even the best teams, not congratulating yourself for surviving a contest that shouldn't really be considered one in the first place.
I mean sure we all know the feel good story of a plucky team who fights against all odds to beat the undefeated squad. Disney's sold enough of these crappy movies to fill up a couple of Blockbuster stores. But really in the first half, it was the Jets miscue that put them in the hole. It wasn't really the Falcons doing anything spectacular that another defense couldn't have done. Now, since they weathered a rally, since they protected a 20-0 lead at the start, cause they (finally) sealed the 27-14 win with a strong defensive stand on 4th down (in their own end) with under 5 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter, these guys are the real deal?
Again they probably are. The point of his article is that bottom line they can win, even if it's ugly and expected of them. Somehow that arguement just isn't as convincing when your evidence amounts to they can withstand a late rally by an injured team down to it's fourth-string QB. Why society is sick- like we need another reasonI have the MSNBC website as my homepage. This morning under a headline regarding the Carl Rove/CIA leak article, the damage of hurricane Wilma to Floridians and across from the main story of terrorist destruction in Isreal is the earth-shattering headline "WNBA star Swoopes is gay."
Thank you news media, once again a solid job on reporting...something that may not be news, uh, unless some fans care...which I don't believe is the case. But thanks for following your journalistic...uh, judgement? Is that what we're calling it? Well you have to report something, and now that hurricane winds are dying down and your reporters are dry it is time to change the focus once more.
Society is sick because we care so much about a celebrity's sex life and orientation. And in all honesty a WNBA player isn't that big of a celebrity to begin with. Yet this was rated proudly by MSNBC as a most popular and most viewed article. I don't care who a celebrity is f--king, it doesn't concern me. Give me some actual news and not gossip.
And yes there is a certain sense of hypocrisy of talking about a person's sexual orientation for the purpose of telling everyone not to mention it. I've mentioned this before but it's worth repeatingPeople drive slower in Niagara, like I'm talking average speed of 45 in a 50 zone. I was waiting to make a left, and this woman in a white camry is crawling up the street at under 30 km/h. Normally I wouldn't have waited but since my mom gets car sick really easily, I got a long glimpse of the sight-seeing tourist amble up the street. 10/24/2005 I got away with it this weekendFinal point about the mid-terms this weekend. I'm lucky it could have been much worse. These were only first and second year courses. If they were more complicated/intensive I would be in much more trouble.d
Plus after that painful engineering experience- sitting is still not without discomfort- the three mid-terms still aren't as bad as 1 Materials test. Ugh. (what's the emoticon for retching?) I must have wrote the worst Phase Transform test of all time. Even the guys who didn't show up got a better mark.
Guys you used to say the got 'raped' on a mid-term or a test. That's just vulgar but what do you expect from guys sitting around? I prefer to think that I've been innoculated against any exam trauma. After engineering what could phase me now? Brock U Mid-term PolicySurprise Their Isn't Any (Sons of Bitches)
That's right. That's why I could have 3 mid-terms on the 22nd. That's why in theory you could have 5 in one day. It is why some people had 4 or 5 in the span of 2 days. The official policy is that there is no policy. As far I know, from speaking to the Acting Associate Dean of Accounting, the only qualifier seems to be that aside from in-class, the only alternate time where a mid-term may be scheduled are on friday nights and all-day saturday.
So this past saturday I wrote a first year accounting mid-term from 9A.M till noon. What f--k??? 3 Hours??? For a mid-term? We've all had finals shorter than that. Admittedly they did it just so everyone would have plenty of time. I finished in 1.5 hours then spent 20 minutes checking it all over again so mercifully it didn't actually consume the whole 3 hrs. Still for someone who didn't take accounting in high-school and wasn't totally comfortable with the material they could have been there for a looong time.
I never really had this issue at Mac, so I don't know if they have any policy per say either. I know they would schedule evening testing anytime during the week which certainly removes the "congestion" of examination. See the thing is that Profs only get so many classes during a semester. And either they have so much material to get through or they love the sound of their voice in front of a class they are reluctant to give up a lecture. Note this is just a judgement of mine and a few fellow students- I haven't actually polled any profs on this.
Plus when you have multiple sections, offering an in-class exam is unfair, as the Acting Assoc. Dean would say since someone who's class is friday could pump the tuesday students for all the questions/answers. Ie. Question John from Mac Res. Geez, it felt like a 2-day interrogation at an Iraqi jail- complete with attack dogs, sleep deprivation, religious desecration and that chick pointing at naked penises- before he was sastified.
Granted I'll give that this would occur if everyone wrote the same exam but are the profs that f--king lazy they couldn't offer different versions in each section at the least? True you'd still give an advantage to the people who have more time to prepare and know what to focus on. But more importantly who the hell said we had to write in our normal class time or even the normal class day???
If they can through us into a friday night or saturday time slot why can't we write on Mon-Thurs evening? I know there are night classes then but not everyone has a night class and those with a conflict might have to write before their class.
Since mid-terms aren't scheduled by the registrar but by departments, they don't know what their right or left hand is doing. Cause the thing I can't stand about mid-term and finals scheduling by universities is they give you a week to do an assignment or a lab worth 5-10% but you have like a week or 2 to prepare for 5 that make up over half of your final mark. Even with a week of prep for 3 exams, inevitably one gets a lack of attention. And you suffer for it. The finals it always happens but their really is no reason for that to happen in a mid-term. The university brings all these timetable conflicts upon themselves. It's like forcing all drivers on a 4-lane 401 highway to use only 2 lanes for no good reason at all.
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