Tom's comments (member since Aug 28, 2008)

Tom's comments from the History is Not Boring group.

This thread was totally unexpected.



I lack the restraint of Barbarossa and Susanna.

At least some of the new Fords get good mileage. The Fusion hybrid beats out the Accord and Camry hybrids, and the Escape hybrid and the Focus do ok. I was also just reading about the new V6 they have available now...more power than their V8, and with better fuel economy. Mainly though, i think the Fords are just good enough that people who want to buy "American" cars can justify buying them.

Regarding "doing the math," Jim, i just bought a Prius myself back in January. I had been looking at other smaller model cars before i made up my mind. If i recall correctly, the Prius was in the top ten lowest cost of ownership cars over...i think it was 3 years, but not sure... but that was calculating the cost of gas at four bucks a gallon, so it's probably not so highly ranked at the moment. Fuel economy was a factor for me, but mainly i just liked the car.

Jim, i've seen an article on some science website that said some study or other (i'm full of precise information here, aren't i?) suggested that there might be some kind of link between not getting enough sun and autism. I want to say that the study looked at the kids of refugees from Somalia living in, i think, Minnesota (again with the precision) who are seeing high rates of autism. Since they don't have the Northern European adaptation to convert limited sunlight to vitamin D, the theory is that they're not getting enough and that's leading to health problems. I suspect the cautious science-speak of "more study is needed" has been ignored by mainstream press.

I've also seen it theorized that kids growing up in a relatively sterile environment has led to asthma and problems with the immune system. Moral of the story, i guess, is to let your kids play outside in the sun and the dirt.

English is not my native tongue, but even I know, what that woman does to the English language should be criminal.


Did you by any chance listen to the last guy we had in the White House?

Looks like someone was procrastinating on their homework, though...

It's more about the name than the contents, Lilly. I'd probably refuse to drink aqua water, coffee caffé, leche milk, or beer du bière too, regardless of what was added.



Why yes, i am a bit uptight about some things. Why do you ask?

I've never been able to bring myself to purchase anything labelled "chai tea." I guess i'm just convinced that it's simply a way to fancy it up and charge more ("chai" is "tea" in Russian and, i believe, several other Aisian languages). I've never developed a taste for coffee-- anything that you have to put that much crap in to make it palatable just isn't worth the effort. I tend to avoid tea in coffee houses, though...seems vaguely insulting somehow that you order coffee and they do everything for you, you order tea and you get a cup of hot water and a teabag.

3, actually, but one is slightly different. You might also try asking the question in some of the kid-moderated groups, of which there are a distressingly large number. Most of these will have the letters "RP" or the word "roleplay" somewhere in the name of the group.

Also, whenever i see two identical posts with the same headline posted by people with similar names and minimal profiles, i immediately start looking for the scam...

US? World? European? All of the above? I don't read much historical fiction myself, but Twelve Years a Slave and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee An Indian History of the American West are non-fiction books that might work. Once you have a teaching job, it might be a good idea to make friends with a lit teacher. My high school, up to a point, tried to pair up history and literature classes... US history and US lit the same year, world geography and world lit the same year, and so on.

Gravy makes everything better.

I believe that the SC department of natural resources recently released some pythons at the old Savannah River site (under supposedly controlled circumstances) to see if they can survive here. Haven't heard anything about results, yet...

I sometimes hear people talk about the potential tax revenue and other benefits of legalizing marijuana and other drugs (and sometimes i'm the one doing the talking) but it occurs to me to wonder what, exactly, would happen to all the black market drug dealers. If all the petty criminals who make their living off the illegal drug trade suddenly found their market has dried up, what would they do for a living instead?

Grits are also good with gravy, and for mixing up with your scrambled eggs.

For those as are interested, SLED is now saying that the guy shot in Dallas, NC, is their serial killer: http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=...

That's what it's intended to be...

If you've ever travelled on I-85 between Atlanta and Charlotte, Gaffney is the place with the giant butt water tower: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um...

Some local media outlets are saying that there may be a link between the killer and a guy shot in a possible robbery a few miles up the road in Dallas, NC. Authorities aren't saying much about why they think the killings are linked, though.

He's a graduate of the Greenville County Council School of Insanity. Is that local slang for Bob Jones University (sic)?

Is he your state senator, Susanna? I know his district is around there somewhere...

SLED, for those as don't know, being the State Law Enforcement Division.

At one point I thought Sanford still had a viable political career, providing that he reconciled with his wife (Religious conservatives are willing to forgive, some things. Think Jim Baker). He's since opened his mouth and, i think, blown it.

Someone at work today was saying that one of the Michael Jackson accusers has come forward now and said that it never happened, and that his father put him up to it. Dunno if it's true or not.

Will, what i was thinking, and expressing badly, is that there would be an updraft off of solar panels that could perhaps be used to turn a wind turbine, the way candles turn the blades on those rotating nativity scenes.

Regarding Mike Fair, any far-evangelical-right legislative proposal in South Carolina is likely to have his name associated with it in some way. His most recent proposal more or less says "religion can't be taught in schools, atheism is a religion, evolution equals atheism, therefore evolution should not be taught in SC public schools." It's not quite that flagrant, but that's what he's getting at.