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 Author Thread: Motorcycles
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 41 (view)
 
Motorcycles
Posted: 5/19/2013 8:00:05 PM
I can remember when "Loud Pipes Save Lives" started - it was a JOKE, fer cryin' out loud, but some self-righteous types took it as gospel.

When was the last time you saw a bike for sale that didn't have a horn on it? I will agree that some people complain if we toss the stock "beep-beep" horn and put on something serious, but when we NEED to be noticed, we need it big-time.

A horn doesn't run all the time the engine does, does it?

Diff'rent strokes, and consider your fellow humans. :)
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 49 (view)
 
some college
Posted: 5/19/2013 7:45:56 PM
Vald, I DO believe that everyone should get a decent wage. I was protesting that both hard workers without education and educated workers who produce alongside them are being pushed down by lazy scamsters and people who get to rig the game. Edinburgh was, along with most of Scotland, devastated by the right-wing race-to-the-bottom policies of Margaret Thatcher's ultra-conservatives. They destroyed England's productive capacity and replaced it with financial manipulators and skimmers of other people's money.

All the attacks on education that I have seen come from the right. Centrists and liberals have always favored universally available education with free ideas, with the usual few exceptions. It is the privileged-entitled class that opposes education, to drive down salaries and because they fear that education has always been associated with less alignment with religion and money-is-everything thinking. They're the ones saying, "I never went to school, and I made a business that made me rich, and you can too!" And they are the pushers of free trade and the instigators of resentment against unions. (And no, I have never been a union member, but I know which side they are on, and it's not Wal-Mart's.)

Hating the "educated liberals" who have been joined with your cause all these years is just handing everyone over to the Trumps and Romneys.

Donald Trump and Mitt Romney were born rich, had rich friends and connections, and are contemptuous of anyone who isn't.

Why does anyone think that making higher-paid workers poor will help the lower-paid, rather than the privileged-entitled class? This is like the joke about the old one-armed farmer that gets one wish - and wishes the neighbour he hates would lose an arm.

Cammer: No. I am explicitly saying that the concept of "white trash" comes from racists who believe that anyone white should have all he needs to succeed because he's not a dumb (whatever's being hated today). It's the usual blame-the-victim. I can see that my irony wasn't understood by everyone, and that's not snobbery but the usual difficulty in expressing irony in print. I have already apologized for the attempt.

Whatever you do - and colleges and universities graduate potters, basket-weavers, cooks, writers, dancers and technicians as well as engineers and scientists - you will have a BETTER life for being better educated. My anger is aimed at the right-wing capitalists who urge people to avoid education to keep them down.

Working-class people DO have ideas and experiences. But higher education brings together a WIDER and more diverse crowd - from other countries, classes, religions, cultures - than most of us would ever meet in our daily lives living in the same place most of the time. Life is an education, yes, but of you don't understand that higher education goes above and beyond what most can do on their own (thank our lucky stars that public libraries and free TV still exist) you need to look into it.

I'm not judging people by their bank accounts any more than I am by their ability to get money. People should be able to have a decent life by a variety of paths, because not everyone can take the same path to what they want as success.

BOTH OF YOU: You are letting your enemies turn you against those who want to better your lives and their own. It's not a matter of looking down at you, but of wanting to raise you up, too.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 35 (view)
 
Are there friend zone indicators?
Posted: 5/19/2013 7:20:42 PM
Hey, a friend doesn't expect you to pay for their life or do their bidding. THAT's a user, male or female.

Anything you'd do for a bud you can do for a female friend without fear. And that includes holding their purse or driving them home if they're not fit. Would you leave a friend behind to crash into a tree or be taken off by a scary drunk just because he/she wasn't sleeping with you? What kind of friend would that make YOU?
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 34 (view)
 
Are there friend zone indicators?
Posted: 5/19/2013 7:19:31 PM
Hey, a friend doesn't expect you to pay for their life or do their bidding. THAT's a user, male or female.

Anything you'd do for a bud you can do for a female friend without fear. And that includes holding their purse or driving them home if they're not fit.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 45 (view)
 
People addicted to electronics
Posted: 5/19/2013 7:15:42 PM
As long as there have been phones, not answering because you didn't want to talk to someone has been unspeakably rude. And it still is.
Doesn't anyone remember those Telus ads about how being rude on the phone is still rude?
ED BEAR

Yeah, I know - Telus was really trying to say that it isn't rude if you don't get caught. Do any of us really believe that?
The ads made my point better than theirs.
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 36 (view)
 
How To Get Over Being Single and Happy, or Not
Posted: 5/19/2013 6:45:04 PM
Jan1025, this forum - and this world - are replete with people who think more people should think like them. :)
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 158 (view)
 
Why do women go nuts for guys on motorcycles?
Posted: 5/17/2013 3:10:03 PM
Bicycle seats cause impotence in men.

That's why Lance Armstrong had to use steroids. :)
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 133 (view)
 
dating without motorcycle
Posted: 5/17/2013 2:11:56 PM
Well, to be fair, I WAS a virgin until a month after I bought my first bike, but she'd been after me for a while by then.

This discussion is full of stereotypes and generalizations. I've been riding for 40 years, worked for five years as a bike tester and motojournalist,and while I like having friends to ride with I don't consider being part of any particular "community" to be a big part of my life. My bike is a standard streetbike, chosen for comfort and servicability, on the large side because I'm tall enough to enjoy it but not a racer or show-off bling piece. I care about my own safety and that of others, and have gone as long as 20 years without even a tip-over.

I just love to ride. I do it every day, pretty much, rain, shine or snow, and don't force anyone who doesn't want to to hop on. I've seen people stop riding because they were told to and the result isn't usually happy. Life would suck without a bike and the ability to ride it. My bike's neither a toy nor a "lifestyle," but it's a big part of what I have come to be.

Not everyone who crashes or get crippled stops riding. They're out there on trikes, automatic bikes, and scooters. I know one-legged riders and people who need help to mount and dismount. Mind you, most of the riders I know are alive and whole.

I NEVER drink ANY booze at all before or during driving ANYTHING. Even a boat. Just too stupid for words.

When I lived back in Montreal, my long-term girlfriend very much valued the care I took with her life when on the road on two wheels or four, and she was very picky about who she let drive her anywhere in ANY vehicle. She even had her own favourite taxi driver she'd call to take her home from working late.

Once, we were dining at a suburban restaurant west of the city with some friends when snow began to fall as we were leaving, heading east. Weather moved in from the west there, and we had no fears of riding in the snow anyway, but a young man in her dad's Mercedes-Benz insisted on driving her home for fear of her fate on the highway. I agreed when she did, and went home to wait for her. All went well until the man drove home to his dad, back into the snow, and wrapped the Mercedes-Benz around an overpass pillar.

He was okay, though his dad was pissed.

ED BEAR

No, that last story doesn't prove any points about riding - just about trusting who you let drive you around. I love the feeling of a trusted lover driving me around with loving care.
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 11 (view)
 
Motorcycles
Posted: 5/17/2013 11:03:22 AM
Motorcycling and The Biker Lifestyle are two very different things, and women feel different about them.

I ride a comfortable, quiet bike and I don't drink beer, go to biker bars or get into fights.

Some women like'em, some say they like their looks.

Different strokes, different folks.

BUT - motorcycle riding, particularly on twisty roads or unpaved ones, is a VERY physical activity. You are always shifting your core weight, working your arms and legs, and pushing around and pulling onto the stand for parking. Sure, the belly is not the part of the body that gets the workout, and just riding in a straight line all day isn't much work, but motorcycle racers are generally acknowledged to be the best-conditioned athletes of all. More than Grand Prix drivers.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 18 (view)
 
Non-Secularists make their most recent move...
Posted: 5/17/2013 10:53:28 AM
Thanks, Mule. I took a look at the site, and there's nothing I would consider worrisome or nasty.

They get to promote their own ideas - and anything promoting ideas is rightfully called propaganda, not necessarily in a good or bad way.

I guess many of you here are used to me reminding people that the anti-abortion lot have the right to speak and show their dead fetus photos, and noting that if we couldn't speak our own ideas in my youth we wouldn't have abortion rights today.

With some careful, reserved concern for overt promotion of hate and injury to others, I stand by my belief that ideas should face only the opposition of other ideas. Once you're throwing pig blood on people, you are committing assault. Once you are telling everyone on the web to harass someone, you are harming people. But I have no problem with universities that invite controversial speakers - didn't those Mormons in Provo, Utah, do the same in inviting Michael Moore to speak? I was pleased to see that many of them stood up for free speech and reminded the documentarians that their founder was torn to pieces by an angry mob outside a venue where he'd been speaking, and they fled to Utah to avoid persecution. Some Jews think a nation-state like Israel is the best guarantee for their safety; others turn to a free nation where EVERYONE is free, from the communists to the trade unionists to the gypsies and the Jews. Otherwise, the size of your own team is the only guarantee you have, and the smaller ones are defenseless.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 19 (view)
 
Am I being scammed?
Posted: 5/17/2013 10:37:42 AM
Well, Mule, quite a few Forum posters ARE scammers.
Such it is.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 43 (view)
 
People addicted to electronics
Posted: 5/17/2013 10:37:19 AM
What burns me most is that all these people who are full-time wired-in will NEVER answer their phones!
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 35 (view)
 
People addicted to electronics
Posted: 5/16/2013 2:01:21 PM
I have no use for a smartphone, and I hate that it's almost impossible to get a phone with real buttons and no touchscreen unless it's a cheap piece of crap.

I love free (broadcast) TV. But when it comes to living in the wilderness, it's the lack of plumbing that would send me back to town.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 16 (view)
 
Am I being scammed?
Posted: 5/16/2013 1:56:05 PM
Get real. EVERYTHING online that involves money is a lie.
And anyone who asks you to spend money before a cheque clears is a rather obvious lie.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 28 (view)
 
Are there friend zone indicators?
Posted: 5/16/2013 1:49:40 PM
There's nothing wrong with being a friend unless you have no use for anyone who isn't gonna "come across."

A woman who asks you about sensitive, personal matters is exploring your philosophy, honesty and treatment of others. Those are important things to find out before getting emotionally involved, too, not signs of exclusion.

And, finally, a girl who has explored you and likes you but doesn't find you to be what she wants may still say nice things about you to other women.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 8 (view)
 
Non-Secularists make their most recent move...
Posted: 5/16/2013 1:42:55 PM
How about someone telling us what the video is about, since lots of us can't watch online videos?
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 12 (view)
 
Mixed messages
Posted: 5/16/2013 1:37:34 PM
Curvy Doll: Everyone is different. I don't think anybody "deserves" anyone else's standard.
Lots of men like being chased because they fear rejection or don't want to be that grabby guy they hear so many complaints about.

I'd tell our questioner to go ahead and contact him, and tell him you were glad he dropped by.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 14 (view)
 
A Bit Confused
Posted: 5/16/2013 1:34:39 PM
Hey - you found a (possible) woman who wants to trade messages and chat with you. That puts you ahead of most of the other users here. Be glad and enjoy it while you wait for that mythical real woman.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 17 (view)
 
How To Get Over Being Single and Happy, or Not
Posted: 5/16/2013 1:31:24 PM
There's nothing wrong with wanting a boyfriend or lover rather than being The Marrying Type.
Be clear and don't let people project the stereotypes on you.
There's a lot to be said for not putting up with jealousy or tying a financial millstone around your neck just because he warms your... uh...****es.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 45 (view)
 
some college
Posted: 5/16/2013 1:22:54 PM
True indeed - many people go to higher education for a job, or a certificate, or (in my day) a draft deferment.

But the environment exposes you to new ideas, a wide variety of people, and the value of thinking and questioning. It makes a difference.

Most of my working life has involved the IT industry. Though there are lots of stories about people who failed high school and just started using their talents for graphics and design to make a living creating web sites or games, the industry always chose people with university degrees (in my case a B. A. in Mathematics and Computer Science - yes, a B.A.) over the guys with the quickie "computer school" certificates. If you could even get into a proper college or university, you'd have a lot more problem-solving skill and a better grasp on the world around you. And probably much better language and communication skills.

There has long been a concerted campaign to de-skill and reduce pay in that industry, and I would not recommend it as a path to prosperity for anyone in school today. And now we see that major employers and right-wing groups are attacking education - mostly because they know that educated people tend to want a better deal and tend to not vote for right-wing causes devoted to maintaining and increasing income inequality. We've seen media celebration of book promotion of entrepreneurs who claim their education was worthless - though they seem to be able to write a literate book, at least.

Not everyone can be a business leader or winner. Successful businesspeople and salespeople are by definition better than others at getting money - where does that leave the people who aren't the best at it? Are they born losers? Is the ability to get money the only worth a human can have?

We're blanketed in propaganda that tells us that anyone who works for a living is a fool who deserves to be treated like dirt because they don't have the magic gift of business. And now we hear complaints that the younger generation doesn't seem to be willing to work? Hasn't anyone been listening to those who tried to make the likes of Donald Trump and Mitt Romney into culture heroes? Why should anyone put up with being called a loser and chump for actually DOING anything that doesn't involve out-dealing people?
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 40 (view)
 
some college
Posted: 5/5/2013 9:43:48 PM
Please note that I've suggested nothing about separating people by education or paying them differently for the same work.

"White Trash" isn't usually used to deride people's heritage, as far as I can tell. It's applied to people who don't carry the burden of discrimination but are still so short-sighted or stupid that they can't make their lives work.

I'm saying that even a person who intends to undertake a trade or professional career, or business for that matter, will still benefit a great deal from higher education that isn't narrowly focused. Being able to avoid the most common screw-ups will protect you from being called white trash or put on Maury for that reason.

And no inbreeding jokes here, either. Inbreeding actually helps strengthen good traits, too, but we don't do it in humans because we don't think it's cool to have to cull the failures. (Except for those pesky eugenicists...)
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 102 (view)
 
I'm considering of losing my V card to a prostitute
Posted: 5/5/2013 9:35:40 PM
It disappoints me to see people slinging insults and aspersions on the manhood or gender orientation of a guy who just isn't getting any. Jeez, folks, isn't that the most common reason any of us are here? Doesn't he sound a lot like most of the sad "Profile Review" threads, albeit most of them not advertising virginity?

A dear (and female) friend once told me that sex was easy; it was relationships that are hard. I replied that even just sex is one of the oldest and most fretted-about unsolved problems in human history! Let's not try to be supportive by telling someone to castrate himself, head for a gay porn theater, look for work in a snuff film or the like. Yeah, I know we don't have the answer - but being hurtful is no help.

Mind you, psychological or psychiatric help, or coaching or counseling, are real options for potential real problems, and I am not complaining about those suggestions.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 22 (view)
 
Co-worker/acquaintance arrested for MURDERING her ex-husband.......
Posted: 5/5/2013 9:29:03 PM
There's nuts, and then there is still EVIL. Not caring about other people, thinking passion justifies doing whatever you feel like. There's also a difference between insane and not criminally responsible due to insanity; the court tries to assess whether a person had the capacity to know right from wrong, AND the capacity to NOT do what they know is wrong.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 145 (view)
 
Date With Single Mom Went Horribly Wrong
Posted: 5/5/2013 9:23:27 PM
This Bear never wides without a helmet, gloves, riding jacket and my most important protection - my brain. Still riding after nearly 40 years, and still no kids after nearly 60. Won't take pretty ladies on rides without a helmet, as I'd get the ticket and points as well as feeling unsafe.

When I was young, long before we had helmet laws in the parts of Canada I lived in, I let the girl wear my helmet instead of me once or twice.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 18 (view)
 
discrimination or just Jack-pot justice?
Posted: 5/5/2013 9:12:05 PM
I'm solidly with Humpty Dumpty here; it's not the word, it's how you treat people. And one can hurt or slander with the truth, too.

I certainly don't think ragging on people for being white males is cool, though self-selected traits - like being a racist, redneck, ignorant or unwashed - seem pretty much fair game to me. As I like to illustrate, if someone's an A-hole, one can call him that, but not a [bigoted slur] A-hole. As they sow, let'em reap, eh?

So, Vlad, I have no problem with depictions of hateful behaviour any more than of other criminal behavior - though I don't like to see it glorified or promoted, I don't want to oppress speech about it. As I often tell people trying to muzzle anti-abortionists, if we didn't have freedom to express unpopular ideas forty years ago, we wouldn't have abortion rights today. See Aesop, "Goose, Gander, et al."

Now, if ACTORS - in their real lives, not as characters on screen, start going all Mel Gibson on people with their own mouths, they are subject to whatever consequences befall them, legally speaking. But I'd much rather let people say things I disagree with and let them hear the replies they get - as they certainly do here in the Forums - than have our poor overworked volunteer moderators have to jump on any near-the-edge worries. I don't even like the autobleeper, though of course I don't run this place or set its policies.

A few years back, there was a brief fashion in advertising to bash men as lying, stupid, lazy louts. It offended me. There were comments about it in the media, but no charges. The fad didn't last long. I doubt it impressed anyone with its "creativity."

I've always been suspicious of speech-limiting legislation, and prefer to let freedom go as far as is safe. That being said, promoting or expressing hatred, abuse or other crimes against people based on labels - precisely because it CAN cause harm, either directly or through discrimination - merits action in clear, serous cases.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 142 (view)
 
Date With Single Mom Went Horribly Wrong
Posted: 4/27/2013 2:20:00 AM
It's a measure of how much lip-service and hypocrisy about the value of children there is in our society that School Buses are only beginning, in a FEW places, to have seat belts.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 15 (view)
 
BC Election 2013 Reality Checks
Posted: 4/27/2013 2:08:56 AM
I've had a lot of experience in the film industry, and known a lot of people who still work in it, and I do NOT support increasing tax breaks for a small and privileged coterie because other provinces have different deals.

I'd much rather see BC negotiate with other provinces to bring their plans into line instead of being pitted against each other to make more concessions to bean-counters who consider Canadian film workers disposable and only worth using as bargaining chips.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 15 (view)
 
discrimination or just Jack-pot justice?
Posted: 4/27/2013 2:00:33 AM
No, Vlad - writing about a subject is different from demeaning someone or promoting hatred.

I myself took to task a television station in Montreal, back when I lived there, over a story they ran in which they accused comics of promoting racism. One of the images they used most prominently was of a well-known comic superhero walking past a wall bearing the scrawled ephitet, "CHINKS OUT!" I called the station and pointed out that - as I was aware of that very well-publicized anti-racism campaign - that the story was about the superhero's fight against racism, and in this scene he was seeing a wrong that had to be righted.

The news manager (sounds Orwellian, but that's what they called the guy) summoned the reporter, looked over the materials he had collected for his story, and told me that he agreed that ALL of the material was from stories about FIGHTING against hate. The story was not run again, though normal practise would have been to run it on all news broadcasts in the 24-hour news cycle.

Also in Montreal, I was surprised to see the younger sister of a young man I knew - both of them born in Kenya - on TV protesting the use of "Tom Sawyer" in school because of depictions of racism of the time. Having the family's number and being familiar to her, I explained that the book was central in teaching Canadian kids about the evils of racism - in part precisely because it actually showed very little of the harsher, more shocking abuses of the time. It took a while, but she came to understand after speaking to other kids in her class.

I am not familiar with the Emma West case. I don't know if her rant was the cause of her problems or rather other actions she took in the course of her interactions with police and child protection authorities. Certainly, it has been the practise in recent decades to pull the kids first and then look into problems, largely because politicians hate to be caught having been too slow when some poor kids get hurt. It even happened to Marge and Homer Simpson, by which I don't mean to be silly but to point out that it is a seriously difficult balance of freedom and protection, and worth talking about.

I would certainly not think $mega was a suitable award in such a case, and I don't note that any judge has felt so either. I'm not sure I would fire the employee either, the outcry and potential penalties being pretty scary to someone who just never took it seriously. Again, we have judges.

Here in British Columbia, where a provincial election campaign has just started, our most left-leaning party hurriedly turfed a candidate who had expressed some nasty comments about natives and French-Canadians which clearly indicated that she didn't consider "them" part of "us." And she didn't even see the problem she had, blaming the media and claiming support from lots of people who had rallied to her defense by defending the stereotypes - ironic of course, because both native and French-Canadian civilizations preceded European English settlers in Canada.

One of the "supporters" asked the TV camera, "That's just the way I feel. Does that make me a bad person?"

Well, uh, yeah...

There's no patent on racism and tribalism - back in Quebec, I can remember chatting (in French) with a French-Canadian diner at a restaurant counter who suddenly asked me why the natives hadn't assimilated yet. The subtext was that English-Canadians should have assimilated, too, but my response was that the natives hadn't made US assimilate. Or put us in the hands of crazy religious whankers (be they shamans or witch doctors) who thought us unhuman and in need of having the White beaten out of us.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 12 (view)
 
discrimination or just Jack-pot justice?
Posted: 4/20/2013 4:59:04 AM
All excesses aside, I have no problem with the law penalizing people who abuse people with hate speech or other demeaning behaviour. Whether there's really a "damage" award is a separate issue - that's why we have judges - but the offense deserves punishment regardless.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 21 (view)
 
I'm considering of losing my V card to a prostitute
Posted: 4/20/2013 4:53:18 AM
Having your first sexual experience with someone who hates you (and it's a pretty sure bet with a pro) will not satisfy your need to be accepted, wanted and perhaps even loved. Without that, you won't ever have sex that's better than what you can do on your own.

If you DO get drafted, trust me you won't be without a prostitute for long.

Just about everybody feels like they'll ever find someone until they do.

If you've never had any sisters or close female friends, I urge you to - and be VERY clear to yourself that you aren't going to try to convert them to bed partners. Learn to be comfortable with women, see how they react, what they like and don't.

You'll learn what makes you likable or not. When women like you, they will say nice things about you to other women. And, of course, women know other women.

In the meantime, always remember that it's not about getting a woman to do what you want to do - it's about finding things you BOTH want to do.
And read a lot about sex - the mechanics of it, the science of it, and the human-relations side of it. I learned a lot from "Lady Chatterly's Lover," and other books that seriously explored human relations and the lives women face.

ED BEAR

Seriously, I spent a lot of time in the Virgin Bin - I was a lot younger than everyone else I knew in school because I started reading before school, and got put into a higher grade where I was resented and made fun of because of my age and size. I went through a lot, but never felt that a prostitute would add anything to my life.
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 13 (view)
 
Co-worker/acquaintance arrested for MURDERING her ex-husband.......
Posted: 4/20/2013 4:31:34 AM
Murder is not a normal, acceptable reaction to being "pissed off."
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 12 (view)
 
BC Election 2013 Reality Checks
Posted: 4/20/2013 4:10:17 AM
Well, first let me say that IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO VOTE, AND IT MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE!

I can't believe anyone can't see the difference the elections of the Gordon Campbell and Stephen Harper governments made in our daily live.

Then, let me say FORGET ABOUT WHO YOU LIKE OR HATE! What matters is OUTCOMES!!! What will happen if YOU vote this way or that!

Finally, GET ON TOPIC! Stop crapping on the political system and please post specific examples of things you think (and with luck) demonstrate to be false or misleading.

ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 18 (view)
 
Vancouver and Groupon: good, bad or ugly?
Posted: 4/17/2013 7:48:48 AM
There are big advantages to fiscal responsibility!

Which is the bigger turn-off: the coupon (or perhaps the discount day or happy hour) or the declined credit card? :(p)

What makes me want to pipe up here is that I get a regular supply of free movie passes. Is it cheap to use them on a date and then live well at dinner afterward?

Interestingly, I have found the movie passes a great help. A woman - particularly if you're Just Friends - may not want to feel she's put a guy out for a $12-$15 movie, but it's a lot of cash for HER to lay out to spend an evening with you. But the free pass means no fear of expectation or obligation, and also no cost or risk.

The best part is those Cineplex Admit One passes - the freebies are indistinguishable from the ones one buys or gets as Frequent Filmgoer Plan users, so one can be ambiguous about whether they were free or just discounted. And anyone who thinks saving by buying in bulk is cheap is just being silly! That's like complaining if someone buys you a fabulous present and you learn they got it on sale... it's STILL a fabulous present, and probably a lot nicer than what they could have paid regular price for!

ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 1 (view)
 
BC Election 2013 Reality Checks
Posted: 4/17/2013 7:39:20 AM
Well, we're into it now! As Elections BC is a client of mine, I am legally bound to remain strictly non-partisan once I show up for the first day, but I still like to see politicos being called on distorted claims or just plain lies!

I hope this thread will get everyone talking about what they consider fair and true - and what is unfair and false!

Let's try to not be partisan, and stick to what we can know about those boasts and accusations. Dog knows, there's no shortage of flagrant BS!
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 12 (view)
 
Why is so Tipping/gratitude so expected in Vancouver ?
Posted: 4/17/2013 7:24:48 AM
In a cab, I'd say that "how much do you want" is not unreasonable, as the change-making is often a pain and there's no point in going through it twice.

Nobody EVER gets away with not coming back with MY change unless I've told them to keep it.

Vancouver is a tourist town, but way out of line with most other tourist towns. While it's not easy to live on minimum wage in Vancouver, it's more than double what many US servers have to make do on, and the prices are higher here. Too many people tip by boobs rather than service, too!

Vancouver has an international reputation for really bad, abusive, don't-give-a-damn service, but the restaurant associations and signs in restaurants and even on menus tell us to tip AT LEAST 20% and want it ON THE TAXED amount. In particular, one often sees oh-so-polite Japanese tourists left agog and slack-jawed by their treatment.

And don't get me started on take-out joints where the servers expect a 20% tip on the taxes amount!

I don't like the whole tipping thing. A worker, like a customer, should know what they're going to get out of a deal. Monkeys who don't get consistent reward rations on their experimental trials get elevated levels of ulcers and heart problems. (When I first learned of Joseph Brady's famous 1958 "executive-monkey" research in my college Psych classes, it didn't make sense to me. Sure enough, it was eventually proven unrepeatable and debunked. Brady had selected his monkeys in a systematically biased manner.) Having no control of what happens to you is stressful... like the difference between being a driver and a passenger!

And living on tips robs one of social benefits based on income. The employers act like it's a present to pay you cash, though THEY save the money and the employee takes the risk and gets no pension or unemployment benefits. When food-service owners ask me if I'd be willing to pay more for no-tip service, I say YES whole heartedly. One of the very few good things about Rotten Ronnie's is that tipping is forbidden. (One of the many bad things is that they still pay crap to their tipless staff.)

But let's face it, there are not that many folks in the Waiting Game who really love their work. The ones who do are gems.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 25 (view)
 
Any other Motorcycle adventure folk out there?
Posted: 4/17/2013 7:14:02 AM
I'm strictly a "It's not WHAT you ride, it's THAT you ride" kinda guy. I lean to the standard/sport-touring sorts, but have ridden all manner of things in my years as a bike reviewer and writer. I feel really fortunate to be able to ride just about anything out there, being tall, long-legged and (by now) very experienced.

I've slowed down for new riders, and been left behind by great riders on cruisers with half my horsepower at times. With some people, it's the ride; with others, the destination but they want to get there on their bike. It's all fun except for the heatbags and the drunks looking for a fight at every stop.

We should keep in mind that North America gets very few small bikes, so new riders have limited choices. The Ninjette (250) is a very middle-of-the-road bike but has sporty looks. Very short newer riders are often limited to cruisers because of their inseams. A very dear friend of mine was sooo in love with the Honda CBR125 when it came out, then devastated to find she couldn't reach the footpegs, let alone the ground. (Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole, but no amount of seat lowering and platform shoes were going to make it work. She ended up on a mini-Marauder.)

But I still can't figure out... What's a "GSA?"

Thekimberli... I'd ride with ya, but it's a long way....
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 185 (view)
 
Question for the guys
Posted: 4/17/2013 7:01:35 AM
Hey! Men are NOT all slime!

Only the married ones!
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 247 (view)
 
Not interested: Ignore or make conversation?
Posted: 4/17/2013 6:56:39 AM
Dominic: Did you notice that two pages back you said that you would not lower your standards, though you seemed to be asking the women who reject you to lower their standards?

Alas, the fact that there are Plenty of Fish in the sea makes it very tempting to start filtering early.

Brooke: I'm not the first to mention that you consider 6' to be ideal despite listing yourself as 5"1'... but I'm not just addressing it to you when I say that I still don't understand how this height-rating differential survives today. I feel bad for men suffering from being short, and I'm a tall'un myself.

As for being thin on top... there aren't many women out there who can see the top of my head anyway!

I'm also a guy who is really looking for Friends. I have some good out-of-town pals who've been regular correspondents for as long as five years via PoF.

One case where I felt unfairly dissed was a woman who said she was looking for an Activity Partner, and in fact asked for company at a specific event that I was regularly involved in and had prominently on my profile. I e-mailed and said I would be glad to meet her there or for similar events, as I liked having company, and she replied...

"That HAIR! UGH!!! How could you imagine anyone would want a guy with hair like that?"

I thought that was uncalled for, because she had specifically called for an Activity Partner, had no restrictions, and yet replied with anger about guys anyone would "want." Heck, what do looks have to do with Activity Partners? (And she had a Japanese-anime spike cut, too, despite being close to my advanced age...)

On the other hand, quite a few people who are clearly not a match for me have been willing to trade at least a few messages about common interests or Forum issues. And I've always been clear from the first sentence that I wasn't going to try to hit on them, and didn't.

Two pleasant interchanges were sparked by my pointing out profile spelling errors that were really funny or misleading. One woman found someone and left PoF but got back in touch two years later just for fun.

Everyone's different. Be cool and, if it ain't gonna work out anyway, why get upset?

ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 172 (view)
 
Hugo Chavez, Murdered.
Posted: 4/17/2013 6:29:14 AM
The Iraq thing was just a reflection that there WERE incidences of the US more or less "taking" foreign oil, despite my own disbelief because it had never happened before.

I'm on dial-up and research takes forever, so I stopped after the first few references. If you feel we need more on it in this thread, I beg someone with better access to provide it.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 57 (view)
 
Do you think the Paid Sites are better than the free sites?
Posted: 4/17/2013 6:25:25 AM
coderedjulia1, ask yourself - are men more likely to fork out money to meet someone to love, or to hook up?

(As we all screw up our faces in bitter memory...)
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 168 (view)
 
Hugo Chavez, Murdered.
Posted: 4/15/2013 1:07:23 AM
Sorry I couldn't reply earlier, Paul K - the system said I had too many recent posts in the thread. Now that there's been some activity, I can point out that Bush administration officials were the source of information about the plan to use Iraqi oil revenues to finance the country's reconstruction.

March 27, 2003: Wolfowitz Says Iraqi Oil Will ‘Finance Its Own Reconstruction’

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz tells the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee that Iraq’s oil wealth will help fund post-war reconstruction. “There’s a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be US taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people,” he says. “On a rough recollection, the oil revenues of that country could bring between $50 billion and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years.” [St. Petersburg Times, 4/2/2003; Financial Times, 1/16/2004] He adds, “We’re dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.” [New York Times, 10/5/2003; CNN, 4/15/2004]
=+=
Bush Pushes To Use Iraq Oil To Pay For US War
By Knut Royce
The Age.com.au 1-13-3

WASHINGTON - Bush administration officials are considering proposals that the United States tap Iraq's oil to help pay for a military occupation.

Such a move is likely to prove highly inflammatory in an Arab world already suspicious of US motives in Iraq.

Officially, the White House agrees that oil revenue would play an important role during an occupation period, but only for the benefit of Iraqis, according to a National Security Council spokesman.

But there are strong advocates inside the administration, including in the White House, for appropriating the oil funds as "spoils of war," according to a source who has been briefed by participants in the talks.

"There are people in the White House who take the position that it's all the spoils of war," said the source, who asked not to be named. "We (the United States) take all the oil money until there is a new democratic government."

The source said the Justice Department had doubts about the legality of such a move.

Another source, who has worked closely with the office of Vice-President****Cheney, said several officials there are also urging that Iraq's oil funds be used to defray the cost of occupation.

A spokeswoman for Mr Cheney, Jennifer Millerwise, declined to talk about "internal policy discussions".

Using Iraqi oil to pay for an occupation would reinforce a belief in the Middle East that the conflict is about control of oil, not rooting out weapons, according to a recently retired professor of Arab studies at Georgetown University, Halim Barakat.

"It would mean that the real . . . objective of the war is not the democratisation of Iraq, not getting rid of Saddam, not to liberate the Iraqi people, but a return to colonialism," he said.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the cost of an occupation would range from $US12 billion ($A20.8 billion) to $US48 billion a year, and officials believe an occupation could last 18 months or more.

Iraq's proven oil reserves are second in the world only to Saudi Arabia's. But how much revenue could be generated is an open question. The budget office estimates Iraq now is producing nearly 2.8 million barrels a day, with 80 per cent of the revenue going for the United Nations Oil for Food Program or domestic consumption.

The remaining 20 per cent, worth about $US3 billion a year, is generated by oil smuggling - and much of it goes to support President Saddam Hussein's military. In theory that is the money that could be used for reconstruction or to help defer occupation costs. Yet with fresh drilling and new equipment, Iraq could produce much more. Some estimate it would take 10 years to restore Iraq's oil industry.

If President Saddam torches the fields, as he did in Kuwait in 1991, it would take a year or more to resume even a modest flow.

Russia has put three warships on standby to go to the Gulf within weeks to protect its "national interests" in the event of a US invasion of Iraq, a move that will heighten tension between Moscow and Washington, who have interests in Iraq's oilfields.

-- Newsday, The Guardian
www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/10/1041990097138.html
=+=
Published on Friday, January 10, 2003 by the Long Island, NY Newsday
Plan: Tap Iraq's Oil
U.S. considers seizing revenues to pay for occupation, source says
by Knut Royce

WASHINGTON - Bush administration officials are seriously considering proposals that the United States tap Iraq's oil to help pay the cost of a military occupation, a move that likely would prove highly inflammatory in an Arab world already suspicious of U.S. motives in Iraq.

Officially, the White House agrees that oil revenue would play an important role during an occupation period, but only for the benefit of Iraqis, according to a National Security Council spokesman.

Yet there are strong advocates inside the administration, including in the White House, for appropriating the oil funds as "spoils of war," according to a source who has been briefed by participants in the dialogue.

"There are people in the White House who take the position that it's all the spoils of war," said the source, who asked not to be further identified. "We [the United States] take all the oil money until there is a new democratic government [in Iraq]."

The source said the Justice Department has urged caution. "The Justice Department has doubts," he said. He said department lawyers are unsure "whether any of it [Iraqi oil funds] can be used or has to all be held in trust for the people of Iraq."

Another source who has worked closely with the office of Vice President****Cheney said that a number of officials there too are urging that Iraq's oil funds be used to defray the cost of occupation.

Jennifer Millerwise, a Cheney spokeswoman, declined to talk about "internal policy discussions."

Using Iraqi oil to fund an occupation would reinforce a prevalent belief in the Mideast that the conflict is all about control of oil, not rooting out weapons of mass destruction, according to Halim Barakat, a recently retired professor of Arab studies at Georgetown University.

"It would mean that the real ... objective of the war is not the democratization of Iraq, not getting rid of Saddam, not to liberate the Iraqi people, but a return to colonialism," he said. "That is how they [Mideast nations] would perceive it."

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the cost of an occupation would range from $12 billion to $48 billion a year, and officials believe an occupation could last 1 1/2 years or more.

And Iraq has a lot of oil. Its proven oil reserves are second in the world only to Saudi Arabia's. But how much revenue could be generated is an open question. The budget office estimates Iraq now is producing nearly 2.8 million barrels a day, with 80 percent of the revenues going for the United Nations Oil for Food Program or domestic consumption. The remaining 20 percent, worth about $3 billion a year, is generated by oil smuggling and much of it goes to support Saddam Hussein's military. In theory that is the money that could be used for reconstruction or to help defer occupation costs.

Yet with fresh drilling and new equipment Iraq could produce much more. By some estimates, however, it would take 10 years to fully restore Iraq's oil industry. Conversely, if Hussein torches the fields, as he did in Kuwait in 1991, it would take a year or more to resume even a modest flow. And, of course, it is impossible to predict the price of oil.

Laurence Meyer, a former Federal Reserve Board governor who chaired a Center for Strategic and International Studies conference in November on the economic consequences of a war with Iraq, said that conference participants deliberately avoided the question of whether Iraq should help pay occupation or other costs. "It's a very politically sensitive issue," he said. "... We're in a situation where we're going to be very sensitive to how our actions are perceived in the Arab world."

Meyer said officials who believe Iraq's oil could defer some of the occupation costs may be "too optimistic about how much you could increase [oil production] and how long it would take to reinvest in the infrastructure and reinvest in additional oil."

An administration source said that most of the proposals for the conduct of the war and implementation of plans for a subsequent occupation are being drafted by the Pentagon. Last month a respected Washington think tank prepared a classified briefing commissioned by Andrew Marshall, the Pentagon's influential director of Net Assessment, on the future role of U.S. Special Forces in the global war against terrorism, among other issues. Part of the presentation recommended that oil funds be used to defray the costs of a military occupation in Iraq, according to a source who helped prepare the report.

He said that the study, undertaken by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, concluded that "the cost of the occupation, the cost for the military administration and providing for a provisional [civilian] administration, all of that would come out of Iraqi oil." He said the briefing was delivered to the office of Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of Defense and one of the administration's strongest advocates for an invasion of Iraq, on Dec. 13.

Steven Kosiak, the center's director of budget studies, said he could not remember whether such a recommendation was made, but if it was it would only have been "a passing reference to something we did."

Asked whether the Pentagon was now advocating the use of Iraqi oil to pay for the cost of a military occupation, Army Lt. Col. Gary Keck, a spokesman, said, "We don't have any official comment on that."

NSC spokesman Mike Anton said that in the event of war and a military occupation the oil revenues would be used "not so much to fund the operation and maintaining American forces but for humanitarian aid, refugees, possibly for infrastructure rebuilding, that kind of thing."

But the source who contributed to the Marshall report said that its conclusions reflect the opinion of many senior administration officials. "It [the oil] is going to fund the U.S. military presence there," he said. "... They're not just going to take the Iraqi oil and use it for Iraq's purpose. They will charge the Iraqis for the U.S. cost of operating in Iraq. I don't think they're planning as far as I know to use Iraqi oil to pay for the invasion, but they are going to use it to pay for the occupation."
==============================================
In the end, much of the quid pro quo was done by letting companies doing reconstruction, like Halliburton, profit from providing oil-industry services to the mostly non-US companies who got oil contracts.

ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 88 (view)
 
Extended Profile
Posted: 4/15/2013 12:51:09 AM
People in relationships are involved in each others' lives, and do things for each other. Paying a third party brings the pimp on board.

In my many decades, very few women have let me pay for their admission or food unless we were already regulars AND their was a big income mismatch.
Many women don't like to feel "bought and paid for." They are sick of guys with entitlement issues.
ED BEAR
 Ed Bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 5 (view)
 
Password Recovery Protocol Query
Posted: 4/12/2013 1:17:52 AM
That leaves me back at wondering why we are asked to enter an e-mail address, since most other web sites just let you ask for password recovery and send it to the registered address.
ED BEAR
 ed bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 1 (view)
 
Password Recovery Protocol Query
Posted: 4/11/2013 7:03:38 AM
I do hope this isn't a redundant thread - I'm on dial-up, so searching is pretty laborious, particularly since I have to keep reloading a profile page in another window to avoid getting logged off.

Please, if this is covered elsewhere - I searched and searched - just let me know and shut down this thread. I'll go quietly, I promise.

THE ISSUE: Tonight, when logging in to PoF, I mis-typed my password. It happens to us all. But then I saw a little window pop up and prompt:

"If you forgot your password enter your email address and it will be mailed to you."

Wait a minute, the paranoid voice in my geeky brain said, does this mean that PoF will send your password to ANY e-mail address you provide?
Of course, that would allow just about anyone to have your password sent to them! Surely Markus wouldn't do that?
Well... Markus has been known to do some strange things, like send us our passwords in regular e-mail notices...

I ask this because MOST password-recovery systems simply ask you to ask for a new password, and then send it to the e-mail address the user has registered with. There's already an e-mail address, so one need not specify one.

I would test this, but I don't want to screw up my account by tripping some sort of verification trap. Or ending up without the password to my account.

I don't even remember, after six years, which e-mail address I signed up with! Or even if PoF asks for one when you sign up!

So - can we be assured that the system won't just send our passwords to anyone who asks?
ED BEAR
 Ed Bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 6 (view)
 
Different users on one computer
Posted: 4/11/2013 6:22:19 AM
This probably happened because you allowed your browser to save your login info. THIS IS A BIG NO-NO! If you don't have to enter your password to log in, you might as well not have a password at all. Anyone with physical access to your computer can wreak havok on all your on-line functions with saved logins.
ED BEAR
 Ed Bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 7 (view)
 
need a bit of help ...
Posted: 4/11/2013 5:50:02 AM
This is something that has changed, I think.

When I was a newbie, and for years thereafter, messages from users who had deleted their profiles would stay for a few days before vanishing; even their photos would linger long enough for me to right-click and save them. I would see "user deleted profile on....." if I searched for the user by username.

The second Fishie I met face-to-face had left me a message with her photos and then deleted her profile. I was able to read the message and grab her photos, and called the number she'd put in the message. Her photos vanished after a few days, but the messages stayed the full 30-day allotment of the time. (We got together four times, and I liked her - even met her teenage daughter - but she told me she'd chosen someone else before we got past good-bye hugging. Swim on, Bear.)

But, about two months ago, I sent a message to a user who had been on and off the site over a few years, and I found a note on my linked e-mail account saying she'd sent me a message. When I got to PoF, my inbox showed nothing, and searching on her name found she'd closed her account (and that's still the case today). No message, no photo, no nuttin. I was so pleasantly surprised she'd replied, and after only one day I couldn't read what she said.

I was polite and didn't hit on her - it was just a conversational thing - so I expect she messaged me because she wanted to say something to me.

More recently, I was swapping messages with a forum user and found a new message in my inbox. I read her message, seeing our conversational history, and clicked the reply button - NOT quick reply, BTW.

The reply page opened, but her profile photo was not showing with each of her messages. Sure enough, I couldn't send a message because she had actually deleted her account while I was reading her message! And the username search now says, "User closed account," without a date or time.

Back in the conversational record and inbox, the messages are still there - and the image she sent me in the first message is STILL there, though the ID shot by each message is now the blank generic woman silhouette, and in the Forums her image is now generic, too.

Who knows?
ED BEAR
 Ed Bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 9 (view)
 
login points
Posted: 4/11/2013 5:28:23 AM
Hmm... the profile editing page used to say how many points you got per logon, and that they only came with one logon per day, but I can't find anything now. There was also a maximum number of points you could accumulate, if I remember correctly. Anyone else have a memory about that?

Just now, I looked at my profile and saw my old theme background. As I had enough points, I tried to buy a new one, and it came right up, so that still works. I guess now I can monitor my points to see how many I earn per day, and if there's a limit - I think I was at 6045 for ages...

Well, whaddyaknow! I was able to select the new profile, and it displayed - but I still have 6045 points! I'll have to check back in a day or two and see if there's been an update.
ED BEAR
 Ed Bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 23 (view)
 
Latest Update: Shows your Real First Name
Posted: 4/11/2013 5:13:20 AM
Actually, Holly, that's not quite correct.

As a noun, an effect is something that happens because of something else.

As a verb, it means to cause something, as in "this effected a change in the type of message you will get," as opposed to "this will affect the type of message you will get." ;)

As a verb, affect means to have an effect, just to help keep us confused.

I can see one use for the new system: it's often hard to address a message to someone with their username, as in:

"Dear StinkyMelonMan:"

Of course, it shouldn't show your real name - because nobody should ever use their real name for ANYTHING on the web!

ED BEAR
 Ed Bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 12 (view)
 
men viewing my profile
Posted: 4/11/2013 5:03:52 AM
Given that so many of the active threads are "profile reviews," is must be pretty clear that anyone can view profiles of Forum users. In fact, unless things have changed, even hidden profiles can be reached via the Forums links.

When discussing many topics, it's often interesting and helpful to see where people are (literally) coming from, and what their interests are.
ED BEAR

I'd love a dating site with NO matching - just discussion groups to allow people to show themselves!
The old BBSes were great places to make friends and influence people. :)
 Ed Bear
Joined: 5/19/2007
Msg: 5 (view)
 
Must not be a guy, cannot post replies
Posted: 4/11/2013 4:50:27 AM
Also - why do the "Ask a Guy/Ask a Girl" forums not restrict postings to the appropriate gender?
ED BEAR
 
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