greg1647545532

Malarky! So the track prep they do (assuming that's the oil treatment) really starts to wear off that fast?! If so, I wish they didn't do it. The track felt very spotty, grip then slide, repeat 3x times per corner. I'd rather just drive on a slick track than have them spray down random splotches of grip that wear off after 1 session.

http://steronz.com/random/gpk_nov.jpg That's me at number 8. I'm declaring victory. But seriously, I had the 4th fastest time that session, and then my next two sessions with mostly the same people none of us could get anywhere close to the 1 minute mark -- I was setting fastest laps for the session with 1:01s. I don't know if it was just a matter of the right kart being matched up to the right person (I did like that kart the best, I had issues with my other two) or if it was a matter of fluctuating track and tire temperatures. That place is crazy. In any case, I converted two more addicts.

Uhh... this claim doesn't even pass the sniff test. Perhaps you're referring to this item that made the rounds a while ago, which claims that fists, hammers, and other blunt objects kill more people than rifles and shotguns. If that is indeed what you're referring to, then it's so far from fists > everything else that I'm sure I don't need to further explain. eta: The source data is in that link. "Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc)" are responsible for 1/10th the number of deaths as handguns, for instance. 1/3 the number of deaths as knives. About 5% of the total deaths tracked by the FBI in 2012. And I would speculate that a fair number of those deaths are actually strangulation.

Yes, and the toxicologist testified for the grand jury. He'd most likely gotten baked that morning. Nothing else in his system. The grand jury asked if the weed might have made him aggressive, and he was basically like, "Ah, no. Lazy maybe, but not aggressive," with the caveat that you can never know exactly how a dose of weed is going to affect someone.

Not a fact. Unfortunately, most of the witnesses didn't start paying attention until the first gunshot, so we only have a few stories of what happened at the car, and only 2 stories of what happened prior to any punches being thrown -- Wilson's and that of Brown's friend, Dorian Johnson. The way Johnson tells it, Wilson couldn't get out of the car because he foolishly opened the door into Brown, and then got mad and tried to pull Brown into the car. The way Wilson tells it, Brown slammed the door shut with his body and then started swinging. In my narrative, I've kinda split the difference. I don't know that Brown was trying to slam the door on Wilson and start a fight, but his actions that day make it plausible to my mind that he took advantage of the situation that presented itself to act tough in front of a cop. Believe it or not, the testimony that most impeaches Brown's behavior that day is Dorian's. He describes Brown's behavior as inexplicably bold. Canfield is not a side street, there was ample traffic and they were walking right in the middle of it carrying stolen goods in plain sight, forcing cars around them, minutes after committing a robbery. Nearest I can tell, Brown did this intentionally. Why, I don't know. Previously to reviewing Johnson's testimony I was skeptical that any sane person would behave like this, but for whatever reason, that's what he was doing. No doubt. Regardless of what happened at the door, Wilson was affecting a lawful arrest and Brown had no right to defend himself or escape, as Dorian characterized it. Even if all he did was try to get away, that means he resisted arrest, and yes, that sets the tone for the encounter. Right, and here's where things get less clear. Cops deal with unruly people all the time without shooting them in the head, even people who are resisting arrest. You'll get no argument from me that Brown did a number of not just stupid, but criminal things that day. I'll make some allowance for shoplifting given his age and the small amount that was stolen. I'm less inclined to chalk up roughing up the store clerk and then boldly walking down the street immediately afterwards as normal hooliganish behavior. And I certainly won't excuse resisting arrest. Side note, it was amazing how many of the witnesses described to either the police or the FBI during their statements that they new what it was like to be shot. Seriously, it felt like half a dozen of the witnesses, including Dorian Johnson, had been shot at some point in their lives. I really can't imagine living in that neighborhood. I'm far too soft. Anyway, the point is that the grand jury wasn't there to decide whether Brown resisted arrest, they were there to decide if they believed Wilson's claim of self defense was probably true. And that's much trickier.

OK, this is going to be a long post. I'm going to write up what I think happened on August 9th in Ferguson based on the totality of the evidence presented to the grand jury. I want to point out that I went through about 3 months of testimony in 2 days. I was primarily looking for new evidence that hadn't been presented in the media, things that the grand jury seemed to think were especially important, what instructions the grand jury received, and how credible the witnesses seemed on the stand. I think I did a pretty good job, but may have missed things. My opinion is obviously not the final say, but I've approached this with an open mind and I think I'm being fair to both sides. Note: this account includes my own conjecture, so please don't quote indivual sentences and say "cite!?!" like a jackass, because I might be speculating. If you're curious about where I got something, ask and I'll clarify if it's speculation or based on evidence, or both. The Robbery Michael Brown stole a carton of Swishers from the QuikTrip at the corner of Canfield Dr. and W. FLorissant Ave. Shortly following the theft, someone called 911 and reported a description of Brown, Johnson, and what was stolen. Brown and Johnson began walking down Canfield Dr. Their destination was either to Johnson or Brown's apartment, they hadn't yet decided. The two divied up the boxes of cigarillos. Johnson put his boxes in his pockets in order to conceal them; Brown did not. They could have stayed out of public view; if you look at the satellite view of the street, you'll see that there are houses and a field they could have chosen to walk through, and once they hit Coppercreek Rd. they could have gotten off the main road altogether. Johnson would have preferred this, but he followed Brown's lead in walking down the middle of the street in a manner which Johnson described as "bold." Brown's attitude here is important. The QT is the closest convenience store to his apartment, it was broad daylight on a Saturday, and yet he made no effort to conceal his crime, even when he saw the police. The Police Respond Darren Wilson was finishing up a call further down Canfield Ct. when he offered his assistance on the robbery call. Nobody responded, but he heard the description over the radio. Nevertheless, when he saw Brown and Johnson walking down the middle of the street, he did not immediately peg them as suspects, perhaps because their behavior was too nonchalant. He stopped to order them onto the sidewalk, either politely or rudely depending on who you believe. Not interested in diverting his attention to further harass jaywalkers, Wilson began driving away when he noticed the Swisher cigarillos Brown was holding. He put the Tahoe in reverse and backed up alongside Brown and Johnson, stopping at an angle in the street, close enough to the pair that they had to step out of the way. Brown ended up closest to the driver's door. Wilson instructed Brown to approach, and Brown stepped forward a step or two until he was standing right by the door. The Altercation Wilson attempted to open the door, but Brown's body was too close and it latched closed again. It's unclear what happened next so this is going to be extremely heavy on the speculation. Brown put his hand on the exterior window sill. Perhaps Brown found it humorous that the police officer put his car in a position that he couldn't open the door, and then put his hand to block the door as if to say, "It's your dumb ass fault that you can't get out of the car, so let's talk here like this." Wilson reached up to push Brown's arm out of the way, and Brown pushed back to keep his hand or arm on the door. Wilson, not expecting any resistance over a simple stop for $48 worth of stolen property, was jolted into action by adrenaline. With Brown's hand now entering the vehicle and making contact with his body, Wilson grabs Brown's right arm and pins it to the inside of the door. Brown, still not viewing his own actions as "resisting arrest," upset that his arm is being pinned, and possibly in pain, hands his cigarillos to his friend to free up his left hand. He moves his head and shoulders into the police cruiser and punches Wilson with his left hand in the right side of the face. The punch was hard, because Brown is a big dude, but not that hard, because it's hard to swing when you're leaning into a car like that. Nevertheless, Wilson, feeling trapped in the car and dazed due to the assault, makes the determination to draw his weapon. Rather than prompting Brown to cease resisting, the sight of the gun causes Brown to go on the defensive. Brown pulls his right hand up to block the gun's trajectory upward. Wilson doesn't know what Brown is doing reaching out with his hand on his gun, so he tries to fire. It does not. He tries again and it does not. Finally, he pushes back from the door to free the gun from Brown's hand, and as soon as he does it goes off. Brown is shot in the hand from 6-9 inches away. The window shatters when the projectile enters the door. Both Brown and Wilson are stunned by this. Brown's hand is still in the car, bleeding, and too close to the gun for Wilson's comfort, so he pulls the trigger again, hitting nothing. Brown runs. The Chase Brown runs east down Canfield Rd. Wilson opens the door, then pauses to call into his radio that shots were fired and/or backup was needed. He takes off after Brown with his gun at his side. Brown is maybe 75 feet from the police cruiser; one of his sandals had fallen off a few yards from the police cruiser, and the second falls off further down. Wilson shouts at him to "Stop! Stop! Stop!" Brown continues to run, in socks, for another 30 yards. He steps on a rock, flinches from the pain, and decides that he's not going to outrun the cop, not with his physical (weight) condition, lack of shoes, and gunshot wound. He is approximately 45-50 feet away from Wilson at this point. The Critical Moments Brown executes his next series of moves quickly. He stops and whips around. Dorian Johnson testifies that he says "I don't have a gun" in an angry manner. Based on other witness testimony, I believe he instead said "Okay, okay, okay," but still in an angry manner. He begins walking back towards Wilson while putting his hands up, palms out, at a shoulder level but with his arms at a 45 degree angle as if to say both "Look, I don't have a gun" and "calm down" in the universal "simmer down now" hand motion. He is trying to surrender, but he's not hiding his mood and he's moving too quickly. He lowers his hands thinking that he's already made his intentions clear. After moving toward Wilson about 10 feet, or a few steps, Wilson makes a choice. Michael Brown has already resisted arrest, assaulted him, and put his hand on his weapon, and now he's walking towards him, looking angry, with his hands at his sides. He opens fire, 6 times, hitting Brown critically in his chest, puncturing his lung and causing his chest cavity to fill with blood. Brown is now 30 feet from Wilson. Blood splatters on the ground from an arm wound. Brown feels like he's been kicked in the chest by a horse, he bends over at the waist and begins moving his hand up to his belly. This puts him off balance, and he instinctively begins moving faster as his legs move out to try to catch his balance. He picks up speed and his head drops, pointing directly at Wilson. He is 15 feet away. Wilson takes a few steps backward and fires 4 more times, hitting Brown in the forehead and blowing out his right eye, then fatally hitting him in the top of the head. Brown takes 2 or 3 more steps during this final volley, and at the final head shot goes limp and drops to the pavement like a rock. A large quantity of blood flies about 3 or 4 feet forward, like a balloon popping. Wilson is left standing about 6-8 feet from the body. The Aftermath Once Brown turned around, he and Wilson were facing each other. From Wilson's perspective, Brown slowly picked up speed and lowered his head over the course of a 40-45 foot "charge." I think Wilson saw what he saw, but I don't think he appreciates that the wounds inflicted by his first six shots were directly responsible for his own perception that he was being charged. Other witnesses saw Brown with his hands up or at his side or at his belly, depending on where they were looking, when they were looking there, and just by chance, what visual was seared into their memory. Watching Brown's eyeball and head essentially explode must have been extremely traumatic. I believe this visual trauma accounts for the varying details of Brown's hand and body position, as well as the many incorrect accounts of how far Brown and Wilson ran from the police cruiser. A 20 second foot chase suddenly doesn't seem very important when you just saw someone die in an incredibly graphic manner. I believe the vast majority of the witnesses gave truthful statements, although many of them did not see crucial parts of the encounter and therefore their statements were less compelling. The few witnesses who lied were exposed on the stand. The Grand Jury What I've struggled the most with is whether or not the grand jury came to the right decision. To say that the grand jury was forced into an unusual situation is to put it mildly. They were given a lot of evidence, some of it solid, some of it garbage, and they had to sort out what was important on their own. There were no opening statements, no closing statements. No cross examination of any experts or witnesses. They weren't given instructions until the day before their deliberations started. I think that Darren Wilson acted hastily when he opened fire on Michael Brown in the street, considering Brown was unarmed and roughly 40-45 feet away. I don't think he gave Brown clear instructions, such as "Get on the ground or I will shoot you right now." Legally, I don't know that he needed to if he felt his life was in danger. I don't know if Brown would have complied. I don't think Wilson would have been convicted at a trial. I think I would feel better if he'd had one, but I'm going to stop short of saying that the grand jury made the wrong call. My opinion is that this shooting exists in a much debated legal gray area, where I think someone died unecessarily but at the same time I don't think, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a law was broken. Do I think a law was probably broken? Sometimes I think yes, and sometimes I think no. I really don't know what I'd do if I were sitting on the grand jury. I don't think I'd want to.

I'm hesitant to post my thoughts on CR, but FWIW, I spent 2 days reading through every single grand jury document that was released on Monday. I don't think it's as simple as some of you make it out to be. I'm not a lawyer or nothing, but I'm pretty well versed in the evidence at this point. I've written a lot about what's in the document on another message board, but I'll just copy and paste my "final thoughts" post here. If anyone has any specific questions about what was presented, what the grand jury considered important, or why I came up with my theory and/or conclusions, please ask respectfully and I'll fill in the details.

Bingo. This is why you have insurance, so you can get your car fixed when it gets fucked up. They have lawyers who know how to get the money out of the other insurance companies.

I lived in DC for 5 years; some of those years I took the Metro to work, some of those years I commuted by car. The deciding factor was always whether or not I could afford parking, because aside from the whole "You can relax and read a book" angle the Metro was never as convenient as having a car. When I lived on Bolling AFB, my total commute time by train was a guaranteed 45-50 minutes each way, and by car it was 20-25 minutes in the AM and 40-60 minutes in the PM. I lived in Bethesda for 6 months and there my total commute time by train was 60 minutes each way, and by car it was 20 minutes in the AM and 55-65 minutes in the PM. I will admit that there's a certain charm in not having to worry about how you're going to get home if you're drunk, but the primary driver by far in determining whether we were going to take the train was the availability of parking. And sure, I had a few friends who were able to eschew a car payment and insurance, but how much did I want to punch them in the face when they bragged about "public transportation is so great I don't even need a car!" and then they asked to borrow my car to go to Ikea or to take a trip to another city or visit a friend in the suburbs, or asked for a ride home at night because it'd be a 10 minute drive vs. an hour waiting for the non-peak-hour trains to show up. And the metro was never paid for by ridership fees, despite that promise made every time there was an expansion in services. Most DC area residents were OK with paying the increased taxes in order to a) reduce road congestion and an already ridiculous parking situation, b) to have the snob appeal of living in a city with a good subway system, and c) to raise their own property values. Which brings me to the limits of a subway system, geography. When I was house shopping there, I thought it'd be great to live within half mile of a metro, but I couldn't afford the frickin' $250,000 premium to buy a house within convenient walking distance of a stop. My young coworkers could get a couple roommates and split the $3400/mo rent for a small 3 bedroom, but my child-having-ass would have been relegated to the ol' park and ride, which is one reason commuting on the Metro took longer in a lot of cases. As you can tell, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with commuter trains, and my desire for one is directly dependent on whether or not it would run down Lave Ave by my house. I don't go downtown a lot, but is the parking situation really so bad that people would take public transportation to avoid it? In my experience, and especially compared to DC, it's totally not. I've never had a hard time finding a spot. Will it get that bad in the near future? This population estimate shows that Franklin County is expected to grow from 1.2 million people now to 1.36 million people by 2040. Doesn't seem like gridlock is imminent. Would a light rail system attract more people, to the point where the economic gains (increased taxes) would cover the costs? I'm not convinced. Would a light rail system attract more people to the point where Columbus would become even more desirable and therefore increase my property value? Perhaps, but that's a somewhat esoteric argument. If that's the line of logic we're going to take, then you're asking me to support a light rail system because light rail systems are cool, and we should all want to live in a city that's super cool. And as a self-admitted hipster, that argument does shamefully carry some weight, but it's not exactly a practical argument.

How do you think maids and nannies and gardeners get to Dublin? On the bus. My first instinct, having lived in a city with a good subway system, was "ooh, yes, subways!" And then I remembered that I have a bus stop about 200 feet from my front door and I've never taken a bus anywhere. At best, a Columbus light rail would just cannibalize bus riders.

The in-text citation needs to match the reference, which means you use the editor. That's my understanding, at least. Cite: http://irsc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=176029&sid=1482287

When was the last time it worked? What happened since then? I'd check the proxy settings, make sure you're not trying to go through one. That happens to my govt laptop all the time when I connect on base and then bring it home, it behaves exactly as you describe.

Since I haven't done a lot of track days this year owing to my shitty schedule, I decided to splurge a bit and do a couple days at VIR last week. I popped my track cherry at VIR back in 2008, and then didn't go back until last year, when I did my first ChumpCar race on the south course. This most recent event was a Mon/Tues, with the conventional Full course on Monday and the 4.something mile long Grand course on Tuesday. I'd had some charging issues over the summer and as usual I waited until the last minute to put my car back together. I literally reinstalled my ignition switch and put my dash back together on hwy 33 driving down to Athens the day before, because I'm an idiot. Nevertheless, the car did the 500 mile trip without issue. During tech, a couple people pointed out the noise coming from the engine bay, which I assured everyone was the exhaust leak coming from the header I've broken twice now. (Foreshadowing). Monday morning is a bit chilly, so I we're instructed to take it easy for the first session. No problem, I'm a bit rusty anyway. So I slowly build some speed into T1 on my first lap and suddenly the car starts misfiring. I figure it just needs to warm up a bit more, so I try to keep the revs up the rest of the lap but it's still misfiring. I pull into the pits, annoyed that I'm missing a session, and try to find the source of the misfire. Everything looks good other than the fact that I'm not getting ignition in cyl 4, so one of the guys I met down there told me to do a compression check. I'm like, What? It's a little misfire, if something happened to make me lose compression there'd be clanging and smoke and shit, right? But, out of ideas, I borrow a compression tester from the biggest racing rig in the paddock and sure enough, no compression in cyl 4. I pull the valve cover off and the problem is apparent -- several of the valve lash adjustment nuts have worked themselves lose, leading to two broken rocker arms and a dropped/bent valve. Fuck. I have the choice -- drive home on 3 cylinders or go into ChumpCar mode and risk it all. I choose the latter, and by noon I have in my possession a "new" cylinder head from a 2000 CR-V, sourced from a local junkyard who highly recommended I have it checked out at a machine shop. I told them no, I was going to slap it on my racecar and beat the fuck out of it instead. Picked up a head gasket from Advance and a few hours later: http://photos-a.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xap1/10723743_393153340841904_133173205_n.jpg The head gasket had to be ordered from a store in Greensboro so I didn't have that back in my possession and back at the paddock until 5:30 or so. By 8, it was all buttoned up, and the next morning: I told myself I was going to take it easy, that lasted about the first lap until the oak tree turn and then I just said fuck it. By the end of the day I ran a couple 3:17 laps. There's a few seconds to shave off still but 4.1 miles is a lot to learn/relearn in 1 day. I don't think it's too shabby for a car with 146hp at the crank and a cylinder head hastily installed by a substandard mechanic Oh, we only found 3 of the 4 missing adjustment nuts, so one of them probably fell down into the oil pan and is still sitting there. I'm going to have to pull the engine apart this spring, unfortunately; fish anything out of the oil pan and have this head checked out properly. The head and supplies cost me about $300, which sucks but it's still pretty darn cheap. I'm mostly annoyed with myself for misdiagnosing the valvetrain noise, and the lost track time, but I may still keep the car.

And, you know, help save lives. The US military has a long history of humanitarian missions that I'm not sure the OP is familiar with. But as you say, we wouldn't be doing this if there wasn't a strategic benefit.

Is this thread a joke? I can't tell.

Does it have to be gigabit? I have a 24 port catalyst 3500 XL from circa 2005, I'm not sure if it's gigabit though. If you want it, come pick it up and never give it back, I have no use for it. eta: Might have 2 gigabit uplink ports, but the 24 are probably 10/100

Given the criteria, it's not a bad choice. But it's a little silly to insist on RWD for a family sedan and a V8 that makes less power than contemporary V6s. I know people love Panthers but every time I drive one it's like a time warp to a darker time in automotive history.

http://steronz.com/random/GP%20Race%2023%20Oct.pdf Here it is. My scanner was disconnected and the 30 seconds it took to find the cable and plug it in meant this took me nearly a week to find the motivation.

Gotta be this. Made in Canada, RWD, solid rear axle, V8, 4 doors, stupid "LS" trickery, likely to have whitewalls...

Yes, there were two cases of Pertussis at my kids' elementary school this year, in Upper Arlington. I read up on it when we got the letter and California and Ohio are two states often singled out as having had to deal with whooping cough outbreaks over the last 5-6 years because of anti-vaxxer assholes. Caucasus.

"Do what you feel is right" is garbage advice when the science is against you.

FTFY

Even if they get the loan, though, it doesn't look good. I think your assessment is correct.

That's a bummer.

As a counterpoint, the only reason I _ever_ use my Chromecast is because I want to watch a bunch of youtube videos and I hate using my Roku remote to search for things. With my phone I get swype and predictive text, I can pull up videos real quick. Shitty thing about the Chromecast is that I can't connect it to hotel wifi if said wifi requires an internet "terms of use" login. That's half the reason I got it. Might pick one of these up to to throw in my travel bag if it has that problem solved. Anyone know? eta: Found an answer -- I may hold off.