Mike Williamson

Nope, won't be down there until May for the Air and Sea Show.

Tim: What brand processor are you running in that maching? I didn't think anyone had a 4G processor out yet. What OS are you running?

41.65 kbps....With a 56k dial up. No cable, DLS, ISDN, or any other high speed options where I live. I've thought about going with Direct TV's internet setup.....But it isn't cheap.

Dale is right...It doesn't matter which card you picked, since all the cards that were there on the first screen are now gone, being changed to different suits. Like Tony said, it is an old trick!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope yours is a great and happy one!!!

JohnT: You're telling me that if I OVERPAY a ticket, they'll suspend my license because of it? Gimme a break....I don't really believe this gimmick will work, since not all court systems use the same computer systems, etc etc etc, but I certainly can't see trying it as a cause for them to suspend your license. Better to just go the speed limit...

I know how...but I'll keep it to myself.

Looks like an F-15... :)

Here's a good deal on a Steel Eagle/Aaladin 30" surface cleaner. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2367174387&category=50388

Rick: Thanks for the heads up...My parents just bought a 2003 2500 Laramie diesel. Beautiful truck! I'll pass the info along.

Jon: I have no doubt that this nation has it's share of government conspiracies and cover-ups...I just don't believe the lunar landing is one of them...though there are folks out there who dispute that, despite irrefutable proof to the contrary. Of course we have WMDs...what do you think the whole cold war thing was all about? Do you really believe that the press is controlled? There's just no way. Yes, I'm sure in some very isolated cases the government has shut down something someone was going to report for reasons of national security, but for the most part, the press reports what it wants. Terribly skewed to the left, of course, but free nonetheless. Do you think that every newspaper, every TV station, every cable news service, reports only what they're told to report? That every one of those folks does what they're told and never complains? I just can't see it. We're not a dictatorship or an oppressed country to the point where someone has to fear for their lives if they oppose the government. People do it all the time.

ron: Does the fact that we haven't found WMDs mean the government lied? Saddam himself admitted to having them. There is evidence that leads one to believe some weapons have been moved to neighboring countries. Maybe, maybe not. I believe our administration had sufficient reason to believe they were there. If they never were, great, one less t hing to worry about. If the government were going to stage the finding of Saddam, they wouldn't have waited 9 months to do it. Not only that, Saddam has made several video appearances since we invaded...If we made this up, and produced an imposter, that makes us look pretty stupid if/when the real saddam shows up. If we were going to produce imposters, why haven't we produced an impostor for OBL?? In the minds of many, he's a more important target than Saddam. I'd much rather see him found guilty and executed by the Iraqi people than killed by a US serviceman. That's the outcome I expect to see before it is over. If some Shi'ite with has a bomb he can use to try to get Saddam released (though I doubt that scenario will ever happen), he'd use it regardless of whether Saddam is in custody or not. Please don't tell me you're one of those folks who think the lunar landing was staged.....??? If so, I can direct you to a website intelligently and scientifically debunking all of the "conspiracy" nutjob theories about a staged landing. Interested?

Amen to that!

Jon: I've never heard of a pinball machine that wasn't electric...You say they had them back when you were in high school? :p You could buy one, but anything THAT old just HAS to be an antique...you'd probably pay a lot for an antique THAT old....

Brian: As ron mentioned, all you need to do is replace the tips in the surface cleaner to lower the pressure.

ron: You're right...the market is a gamble...But so is everything...In truth, there's nothing guaranteed. There are some companies that are more a gamble than others...Some that are pretty sure earners over time...the problem many have is that they want to "play" the market, earn a lot of money in a short time...when in truth, most make their money in the market over an extended time period, many years. The market as a whole has never been a bad gamble, when looking at things for the long haul. When the market took a dump two years ago, many pulled t heir money out, and put it into safer things...what they really did was make their market losses permanent. We left our money exactly as it was, in our 401k account...Sure, we lost money initally, but in the past 6 months we have made those losses up, and then some. We're about where we would be had the market stayed steady for the past two years. When you invest in the market, it should be for the long haul....Which has traditionally never let us down.

Mark: Like you said, it all depends on what the options are...one person may be putting in 5%, another may be putting in 10%...One employer may match up to 10%, another may match 1/2% for every 1% the employee puts in...other employers don't contribute at all but simply offer the plan as an option to the employee. You don't even need a lot of time to play the market, if you're looking to grow your money over time, instead of looking for that one jackpot investment. Find some companies that are solid to put your money into. Ron: I seriously doubt all the money will be sucked out of the market...It isn't as if every boomer out there will want their money the minute they retire. Most will leave their money in investments, even if they are not the same investments they were in through the 401k. If the funds aren't sufficient to generate a living income, then the balances will gradually be drawn down over time....And even then, it isn't as if that money is disappearing...

Do I care? I'm not going anywhere I would worry about anyone seeing. It is certainly voluntary...don't want to be tracked, remove the bar or don't install it at all! Besides, we're being tracked online so much already...At least Alexa tells us about it.

The way I understand it, Alexa gathers data from millions of web surfers who use their toolbar. The data is compiled and indexed based on how many hits each website got. We're not talking search engine ranking, but overall traffic. How many of Alexa's users went there, and how often. Why does MSN rank #1? Because they are the gateway to hotmail. 76% of their traffic was to access hotmail accounts. You can't pay for this ranking, at least not in a direct manner. You can't pay Alexa to rank you higher...What you CAN do is pay for your site to come up first, or in the top 5, on the various search engines. This in turn will generate more traffic, and thus cause your ranking to go up. The data isn't a totally dependable ranking...Since it is data gathered from only those using the alexa toolbar...Which is why my own website, which is published nearly nowhere, has a higher ranking than the DeckGuide, which surely gets many hits every day. As I mentioned on another board, to someone who was questioning why a particular site had a higher ranking than another, when in his opinion the lower ranked site was much busier. This is because the rankings are generated by hits, not by messages posted. One board could average 500 hits/day, but only have 5 new messages per day posted....while another could only have 100 hits per day but have 50 new messages...The board that SEEMS busier because of the number of messages would rank lower because of the lower number of hits. Why did Delco's old BBS rank so high? Because that link is to Delco's site (or at least one of them), not just their BBS... It is actually the same link I have bookmarked to Delco, though I've never used their message board. I'm sure that site gets much more traffic that is going to the online ordering or the other informational parts of the website without going to the message boards. John: Even though I don't think it is the case with Alexa, I don't see anything wrong with paying for ranking...Companies do it all the time. You want your site to come up on the first page of a google search for "pressure washing" you better be willing to pay for it.

Well, the example here is a bit simple...And would take about 5 seconds in any photo editor to remove the owner information...Not as easy if it is a photograph and the text is inserted in a critical area of the photo...Short of simply cropping out the text, you'd have to do a good bit of manipulating the image to get rid of the text. It can be done, and I've seen some awesome work in image manipulation by people who knew what they were doing, but it takes some skill and know-how, not to mention the right software. Not something you're going to do in Microsoft Paint or something like that. The bottom line is, nothing you're going to do will stop someone who is determined to steal your images if you post them where they can get them. As Alan has said, every little bit helps! I think it is sad when someone has to steal someone else's pictures like that...Don't they have any work they have done that they're proud to show? Is the quality of their work that poor, are are they just lazy? It is kind of flattering, in a sick sort of way, to have somone think enough of your work to want to steal it. :)

It all comes down to the "me first" mentality that seems to prevalent in society, especially during this season of "giving". Fighting for parking spaces, fighting for items on sale, being nasty to others in traffic because you're not going as fast as you'd like, etc etc. I hate even going to the store between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I agree with Ron, I can't stand the commercialization of Christmas. The most satisfaction I've gotten from giving gifts to others is when I took the time to make them myself. This whole BS about being obligated to give gifts to everyone you know, and if you don't spend enough then you don't really care....is just that...BS.

bulletproof: Some liberals in this country, and many in other countries, think that this war is about oil, power, and money. They think that President Bush sent all those troops into harm's way so that his corporate buddies could make millions off the war effort, rebuilding contracts, and cheaper oil. If you take the time to talk to those that feel this way, at least in this country, you'll find that many of them simply hate George Bush. They hate conservatism in general. They hate that George Bush is doing what is necessary, and that his actions are driven by what's good for the country, not what's good for him or his buddies. They don't just hate the war in Iraq, they hate everything GW does. Going into Iraq is just one step in the war on terrorists. Whether there is a direct link between Saddam and 9/11 is questionable. It is without question that Saddam had direct links to terrorist organizations. I just hope we don't stop with Iraq, but that we keep after these people until they're gone. President Bush was right...it will take a long time, but can we afford NOT to stop those who wish to kill all of us?

Hey, Reed....Next time you talk to him or email him, tell him thanks from me and my family. I don't think those guys hear that enough.

Very good information, Paul! Something to think about...Some of us get started later in life than others on the road to independance, but we're on our way!!!!

Got it, thanks! I'm not a fan of hunting, but I don't have a big problem with those who are...That being said, that's one awesome animal. Seems a shame to have killed it. Kinda like cutting down a huge old redwood. :(