ReconRat

Then each of those frequently asked questions should go right into the frequently asked questions section we don't have yet. Yeah, we're over due to have one of those.

hohum, we shot right past 7000 and didn't even notice...

shoot, ReconRat isn't a screen name, it's the name of my bike. The other one is ReconRed...

I distinctly remember gas wars of 19 to 20 cents a gallon. Yeah we drove around a lot while we had the chance. Despite the minimum wage being only about a $1.10/hr back then...

Funny that... I had a neighbor on campus from Pennsylvania wanted for fleeing across a state line. Two FBI showed up and left their calling cards with his girlfriend. He wasn't home. They said just have him give us a call. He did. I was so sad when my Captain Crunch whistle went through the washer and dryer and melted...

That looks like one of the roads North of Moscow going up into Siberia. Those roads aren't open all Winter long, it gets impossible to travel.

Wow, that's Jeb Corliss that crashed. I didn't know he had done that.

Jokke Sommer, another flying squirrel... I mean wingsuit pilot... Teamed up with RedBull for some videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxMBCWfDV5Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1PUgWLRU5E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmlAW_1hgT8

On the 919s: Qualifiers, one year on rears, two years on fronts. That's 6k to 10k each year. That's riding the rears till the cord shows, most of the time. I replace fronts early. RoadSmarts now, and too early to tell. But over one year on the rears and not much wear shows at all. Since I have two bikes, each is now putting on half the miles it used to. edit: I'm going to say that for sport tires, it's more about comfort with how and when the tire breaks loose on various road surfaces. There's lots of great tires, but once you find what you like, you tend to stick with it.

Missed this yesterday. I slept right through the storm. In the past, I had one covered bike tightly anchored to the front of a van, that got up and moved over six inches as far as it could. That kinda freaked me out. I had another blow over into a chain link fence, breaking a mirror. That one was leaning away from the wind, but it picked up straight without a cover and fell over anyway. Shit happens.

cheapest I could find... pair for 8.05 plus shipping 2.95 http://www.powersportsuperstore.com/Arai-Helmets-Shield-Base-Plate-S-p/4278237.htm?Click=35177

Reading it now... but I will say that living and growing up in the city, I have a habit of spotting trouble early on. And stopping dead in my tracks and turning and looking square at the trouble. It usually goes away. They don't like that at all. Early identification of who they are. Surprise is gone. Also a big fan of sticking near cover at all times in risky locations... edit: I've seen or known most encounters stopped by simply the quick display of the weapon ready. Everyone goes away quick. Both the bad guys and the good. Good advice, leaving immediately. Even knew one fight in public on campus, broken up by some girl leaning out a window and firing two or three shots in the air. Everyone gone in a heartbeat...

I was watching live when it happened. Had to look up when the announcers freaked. It was like... wut.. the.. hell.. just.. happened?

Even with the early drag chute to prevent spin, a spin can get going anyway. It must be avoided, since it would knock you out and blood flow would stop. Dead. Spin dead. Only needs one main chute, the max speed falling is limited, and it's done all the time. The new part, is hitting supersonic in thin air wearing an armored space suit. That's tricky enough, so many things could go wrong.

what the hell... I could draw better than that when in kindergarten... Is this person on very heavy drug medication? edit: btw, most of my group projects in college, I did most all the work and some one would always try to take all the credit. Usually a person that did none of the work. Typical of what is later found in the work place, only there it is way more sophisticated. You might never know it's happening.

From experience, it appears that the quantities of people attempting and obtaining college degrees is much higher. Mostly for the obvious reasons, many more grants and scholarships and parents with disposable income. The number of jobs that need a college degree haven't increased to keep pace. The result is graduates with temporarily unused degrees. There are several results: The obvious is an overwhelmed college graduate job market that can't be entered easily. (Never was that easy, just harder now.) Another is struggling to convince employers that you aren't over qualified for a position. Since a lot of jobs don't really need a degree. Or at least the one that you have. As well as convincing them that you won't leave for the better job you'd rather have. The one that would use the degree. Employers can now ask for educational requirements that they couldn't ask for before. Up to and including advanced degrees of Masters and Doctorates. Which means the job market is downgrading the value of the degrees because of the availability. The joke is that employers that previously would have asked for a high school degree, can now ask for a college degree. And on up the line for advanced degrees. Still pays the same. Which of course, makes the college degree the "new era" high school degree. Still have to have one. Finding a decent job with only a high school degree will only get more difficult as time goes on. Finding a legitimate job without a high school degree is going to continue to have rather low wages. edit: Alternatively, employers can choose to reduce wages offered instead of increasing the requirements. And some places, they do both. Lastly, colleges and universities have felt free to increase tuition and fees, since the applicants are overwhelming the capacity. That course of action is hardly reversible, and has serious consequences for the future.

But only for a while. It should settle down into some new stable patterns. The last global warming was the Middle Ages. (700 to 1200 years ago.) Which predominantly was mild weather all year round. Gently rain, hardly any storms. It allowed three growing seasons, since Winter was barely freezing. Life was good. This applies to Europe, since nobody cared about any other part of the world at that time.

The changes in the jet stream as well as the changes in traditional static cold and hot air masses are the root cause. That includes the last few years also. And it hasn't settled into new patterns yet, so random weather events will be the standard for a while.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/deadly-cold-snap-overwhelms-europe-strands-thousands-in-serbia-bosnia/2012/02/03/gIQAPOkumQ_blog.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_296w/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/capital-weather-gang/201202/images/nao-pos-neg.jpg?uuid=x2-Uck53EeGacSKpZ7wsNQ

mucho pics from the UK Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2097779/Europe-weather-Snow-covers-continent-temperatures-plunge-MINUS-40C.html

Had me till I got to the part about 20 inches of snow, lol. That's not very much snow. A few years back, a long stretch of freeway in Germany was cut off for about 5 days by extreme snow. 4 to 6 feet. edit: ok, several feet of snow in Romania and Bosnia. Record low temps in Bulgaria. Snow farther South than normal, in England, Southern Switzerland, Turkey, and even the island of Corsica. Otherwise, the snow isn't bad elsewhere, but the temperatures are pretty low everywhere. The jet stream pushed a reversal pattern, and it's coming from Siberia instead of the warm Atlantic wind direction.

even better on a standard...

I think you'd be shocked what some kids in high school or even grade school get into. No, their parents never know. And yes, maybe it is only in the larger cities, but I doubt it.

No, actually, her byline said it was from a school in Vermont. Where I'd expect Environmental Communications. i.e. "talking to trees"