Tired_Old_Man

I don't think this story belongs in this thread. It should be your town's Local Newspaper plus on the desks of the town's Mayer and Police Chief.

It's fun to brag. Isn't it? :clap2:

First, it MIGHT have been true about the speed, but the man was not a engineer for the scooter company so he was making a guess that was neither required nor scientifically tested. A more polite answer might have been, "I can make it to 35 mph" and then he could have left it up to me to decide what top speed difference my weight would cause. Second, the top speed may not have been that severely limited by my weight. The amount of time to accelerate to top speed might have been effected to a large extent, but the top speed might not have been. Weight has a much larger effect on acceleration than top speed. Third; I have a motorcycle license and have driven many bikes. Maybe, my experience driving "bikes" might have overcome some of the weight penalty. I notice that he didn't tell me how fast the scooter would go with a 90 pound midget driving it or with his wife driving it. I wasn't asking because I want to buy one. I was asking to be friendly and to find out if the scooter was safe at the speeds in the local area and also I was curious if they could go on the highway.

I doubt that I am a better Christian than you, and I don't and won't judge that issue, but I learned a lot about trying to be a good Christian from the words and deeds of Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi and Mike Tyson. If Mr. Tyson seems out of place on that list, let me explain why I put him there. It is easy after someone cuts you off while driving, or cuts in front of you with their shopping cart or insults you over your weight, to say or do something violent. When I tell stories about confrontations, many people say, "you should have smacked him in the mouth" or something similar. Then I noticed that when a confrontation takes place in which Mr. A does something to anger Mr. B, Mr. B will sometimes attempt to confront Mr. A, but will change his mind if Mr. A is larger, younger, stronger or all of the above. In other words, eventually it is the best fighter and only him who has the right to exercise his rights. So that would be Mike Tyson (or at least when I figured that out, it was Mike Tyson). So unless I want to be fighting with everyone, I have to avoid fighting with anyone, and since words lead to fights, it is better to follow the examples of Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi or we will wind up in a world in which Mike Tyson is president (or king).

Prescription Drug prices are making retirement impossibly difficult for many senior citizens. Prescription Drug prices are making raising a family impossibly difficult for many parents. So who loves you? Wal-Mart and Target or your elected Unites States government? Yesterday, first Wal-Mart and then Target announced that they would cut generic Prescription Drug prices to under $5 for a monthly supply. Is this love by Wal-Mart and Target? Before you answer, let me give you some information. #1. It is not costing Wal-Mart and Target anything to do this. #2. The US government could have done it with Medicare's Rx Drug program, but specifically made it illegal to do so. Let me explain #1 first. I have a Prescription Drug plan as part of my retirement package from x-employer. I get Prescription Drugs at about 75% or more below retail in 3 month supplies by mail-order. It costs my x-employer just about nothing to give this benefit. WHY? Because, they buy Prescription Drug doses by the million or billion. They negotiate with each pharmaceutical company for reduced prices and pass them onto us. So when I order a three month supply of Celebrex, I am getting it for about the cost my x-employer paid for it. Now about #2. When a Medicare recipient gets a drug through the Medicare Rx drug plan and he pays 60% of the retail cost, he is paying 2 and half times as much as I would for the same Rx and you (and me), the tax-payers are paying the other 40%. The federal government screwed both the Medicare recipients and the tax-payers by putting a clause into the Medicare Rx law that states that the government can not negotiate Rx prices with the pharmaceutical companies. Now the government wants to reduce the already paltry Medicare Rx benefits because they are costing the government too much money. The reason Canada has inexpensive Rx drugs is the same reason that my Rx plan has low prices. Negotiate to purchase in quantity and resell at prices based on that low purchase price. It is also the same reason that Wal-Mart and Target are able to offer these low prices. So I guess there are only two conclusions to be reached. Either Wal-Mart and Target love you more than your government does or Wal-Mart and Target are smarter than your government. My conclusion: The government cares more about big business than about you.

If you are not taking in many calories, your body may be tired. As a built in defense against starvation, animals have a way of putting procreation lower on the priority list when they are losing fat.

Be careful with legalizing gambling to fund education. #1. Gambling income usually comes at the expense of the poor. In a sense it just shifts the tax burden from the rich to the poor. #2. Some states have passed laws that legalize gambling and the law states that all gambling profits go to education. Then if gambling brings in one billion dollars in a year, they cut one billion dollars from the state's appropriation for education. So then the education budget is still the same. They get one billion extra from gambling and one billion less from taxes. That happens because the wording of the law didn't say that they would add the gambling money onto the tax money, just that the gambling money would go to the schools. So now that the state government has saved one billion dollars, they cut taxes mostly for the wealthy, while the poor play and lose money on the lottery.

Please believe me, I am laughing as I write this and I was also laughing as I wrote the last reply including the "Whoa!!" part. But if he is a "grouchy old fart", then what am I? Not grouchy, so I must be a "Cheerful old fart!!" :faint: :)

Whoa!! I am only about 4 years short of 65. I admit, I don't know how old the "gentleman" actually was. My son said later, after I told him the story, that many people down here look much older than they actually are because of the Sun damage that accumulates over the years. Also, most people who guess my age, usually go over by about 5 years. So maybe he was only in his late 50's thinking he was talking to a person in his late 60's. No excuse for being rude in my book.

Well, it wasn't funny, but I was wondering what other people would have done. :help: I left my wife at the local Nationally known co-ed gym to work out and went to the bank and post office to take care of chores. As I mentioned in another thread, I am having a hard time walking because of knee damage, so I wasn't going to work out. I got back to the gym's parking lot, parked my car and started to go into the gym where I figured I would read my book (Purpose Driven Life) while I waited. As I got close to the door, a man, about 65 years old, 5'6" or 5'7" and about 150 pounds (maximum, maybe less) was getting on a scooter. I asked him, "How fast is the maximum speed on that?" He replied, "About 35 for me, but about 30 for you". :faint: I was shocked but came right back with, "That wasn't very nice". :embarassed: "You asked me a question, I gave you an honest answer." I am younger, taller and 100 pounds heavier than him and I felt like saying something, like "It won't go too fast with my foot stuck up your ass", but I remembered that I must try to be a real Christian and emulate Jesus, so I turned the other cheek and walked away shaking my head. When I told my wife, she was amazed. "How did he know that you weren't going to kick his butt?" she asked.

That has been the emotional salvation to many a man (or so I have heard). :rolleyes

I hope that you realize that while (some) boys are slow regarding potty training they (usually) are quicker at learning how to use high-tech equipment. I don't doubt in fact, that your son may have already given you computer advice about how to post at forums, how to use e-mail, etc. When you are washing clothes or cooking dinner, your son may use your PC to read your posts here at LBT and he will be eternally annoyed at you for embarrassing him in public. You women never learn. Potty training is a much lower priority to a male than his machismo. :faint:

Now I will get on that box. Some NBA Basketball players make more money per game than a teacher makes in a year. Any country that pays grown men more money to play a children's game than they pay the people who educate their children is doomed to mediocrity. :faint:

Good luck and thanx for the support. The nurse trainie was cringing as the doctor injected me, but needles do not bother me and I was cheering her up. I had a round of 5 shots each knee after my last scopes late 2004. I had my right knee scoped the Monday before ThanksGiving and my left knee scoped the Monday after Christmas.

I am sure that the German soldiers who followed Hitler's orders were patriots and the "French Resistance" were terrorists. The orders are legal if your country wins the war, but they were illegal if your country surrenders.

I didn't lose family on 911, just friends. My daughter-in-law was injured more emotionally than physically when struck by debris as the second tower was hit. But after 911, 80% of the world thought the attack despicable and was on the side of the USA. Recently in a poll, BuSh was voted the largest obstacle to peace over Osama Bin Laden. The rest of the world sees what BuSh is doing, but only 50% of the US public sees it. BuSh said yesterday that the terrorists kill babies and innocent civilians to get their way. Yes, they do and they do it on purpose, but we kill 10 times as many babies and innocent civilians, and we call it collateral damage. The USA discusses whether they should use air attacks or air and ground forces against Iran. The USA has floated suggestions about using a new nuclear tipped bunker buster missile to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities. Who made President George W. BuSh into King George or who made him into a deity?

I had been looking for that poem for years, but could not find it. :faint:

Keep thinking about your goal. food has been your companion, but not your friend. More accurately, food has been your acquaintance, but not your friend. You need to find a replacement for Mr. food, your illegitimate lover. Exercise can take your mind off food. Writing to your family on the PC or hand-written letters can help. Do almost anything accept surround yourself with food advertisements like on TV. Read a book in the park. Don't bring any money with you, so that you will not be tempted. Go to a forum and debate world issues. You'll get so angry that you will forget about eating and Mr. Food.

It was so patriotic during Gulf War One (1991), right after 911 and also when the USA invaded Iraq in 2003 to fly those small (made in China) US flags from car antennas. It is a good thing that congress had not passed a constitutional amendment against flag desecration, because 60 MPH did a lot of damage to many of those Chinese/American flags and a lot of damage to car antennas. During the first Gulf war, while I was stopped for a red light, I saw a car also stooped for the light across the intersection from me, with four 12 inch by 10 inch flags taped to the inside of its windshield. I said to a NYC PD officer who was in a car facing the same direction as my car, "why don't you give him a ticket for blocking his windshield?" The officer replied, "he is a patriot". The other day, President BuSh while referring to General Colin Powell's letter about the attempt to change the interpretation of the Geneva Conventions said, "It is unacceptable to think..." It really doesn't matter what the next words were. It is NEVER unacceptable to think. It is unacceptable to plot the overthrow of the US government by force. It is unacceptable to help the enemy plot or carry out attacks on the USA. It is unacceptable to finance the enemy, but it is never "unacceptable to think". And when the leader of the "Free World" will remove from anyone the "Freedom to think", then "We have met the enemy and the Enemy is US".

Ok, I need to set the record straight about the airline security situation. I am somewhat of an expert because I worked in airline maintenance as a mechanic or instructor for 35 years and because I used to teach mechanics how to fix the anti-terrorist equipment. First and most scary IMHO is the fact that most of the people who are doing the screening now are the same people who did it before 911. When I worked at JFK, the screeners were paid from 1/3 to 1/2 of what I made, depending on which terminal they worked at. Most people who had marketable skills did not put in for screening jobs. Some of the screeners worked for and where paid by the airline that owned the terminal they worked in and some were paid by the NY Port Authority. The airline employed screeners usually got paid more. The airline that I worked for paid screeners a little more than the people who put the prepared food on the trays for delivery to the planes and a lot less than the people who put the baggage on the plane. When I was laid off from my airline after 911, I eventually retired (to lock in medical benefits) and I tried to get a job as a TSA (branch of Home-Land Security) screener. The pay was a lot better and TSA claimed that the training would also be much better, but they gave people with experience first preference. Though I had used the machinery, including calibrating and repairing it, they did not deem me experienced enough to hire me. But they hired almost every pre-911 screener. Another problem is the fatigue factor. You can not believe how mentally stressful and yet boring it is to look at those x-ray pictures of carry-on luggage and after a while the screeners who are supposed to scan your body for weapons become jaded. That is why they can not separate mentally the difference from a liquid smuggled past security with one that was purchased on the secure side of the check-in area. We used to run simulated attempts to breach security. When they didn't know we were testing them we got through almost 90% of the time. When the FAA notified us that an attempt would be made on Friday, they still got through with a gun over 50% of the time. A report came out this month saying that screening has not improved. BuSh and Cheney keep reminding the US public that the BuSh administration's security policies must be working ok, because the USA has not been hit in 5 years (since 911). They forget that after the first attack on the WTC in February 1993, the USA was not hit under Bill Clinton for 7 years and 11 months and then for 8 months more under BuSh until 911. The reason we have not been hit may since 911 be more that Al-Quaida takes its time, than what we do to stop them. Are we safe? Yes and no? Could we be safer? Much, much safer. IMO, If we had used half the money we spent in Iraq to protect our seaports, railroads, subways, Water supplies and chemical storage facilities, we would be a lot safer. IMO, Attacking Iraq was the best recruitment tool that the Muslim Fanatics who hate the USA ever had. Will we ever be safe? Not as long as two groups of people pretend to fight in the name of a God (of peace), while violating everything that God and his Holy books stand for. Sorry I drifted off topic.

I was spitting up in a stall of a restaurant's Men's room and from behind the door I heard, "Next time don't drink so much, if you can't hold your liquor". That's why I usually go outside. Once while spitting up near a canal behind a restaurant here in Florida, I saw a 'gator about 15 feet away. I could imagine the headlines: Lap-Band Mortality Rate Rises And few would bother to actually read past the headlines to the story of the fat old gray haired man (sort of a Santa Claus clone) who was dragged to his death while spitting near a canal behind a restaurant in Florida. :faint:

One Milligram = 1,000 Micrograms

I can just picture the headlines: Terrorists Bring Down Planes with Lap-Bands Full of liquid Explosives Of Course the Lap-Band doesn't set off Metal Detectors. It is made of Silicone.

"I'm not doing anything wrong. I've got nothing to hide. Let the US government listen to my phone or monitor my e-mails. Let the US government do what they need to do." I hear statements like that all the time, but if the US government was so efficient, so honest and so benevolent, then how would things like this happen? Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says "we seek to satisfy ourselves that they will not be tortured". Maybe you were satisfied, but I am not satisfied and I doubt Mr. Maher Arar and his family are satisfied either. Sent to Syria? I thought Syria was our enemy. Is there something going on we should know about? If Mr. Arar was a terrorist, wouldn't the Syrians have treated him like a hero instead of torturing him? Why send him to Jordan or Syria? Couldn't the USA have interrogated him? Couldn't the USA have interrogated him since they weren't going to break any laws by torturing him? Or did the USA figure that only torture could produce the results they needed? What better way to wash your hands of a human being's rights? The USA doesn't torture anyone!! Not US. Next time you are so quick to give up your rights and the rights of others, think about these problems. I was going to say, "think about these mistakes", but the USA doesn't think it was a "mistake". Canada thinks it was a mistake, but Canada can't beat the USA in a war, so who cares what Canada thinks? Right Mr. Gonzales? Right Mr. BuSh? More importantly, "Who cares what half of the American population thinks"? As long as enough Americans say, "I'm not doing anything wrong. I've got nothing to hide. Let the US government do what they need to do", then these things will keep happening. Mr. Arar's torture and the years taken from his life are a small price to pay. Right Mr. Gonzales? Right Mr. BuSh? If only the US government knew what they were doing. If only the US public knew what they were condoning.

I did the same thing for a long time, though rather than spit in the cup, I had to leave restaurants to walk around the back to spit up saliva and eventually that little piece of food that I did not chew properly and was clogging me up. Sometimes the problem is caused by being too tight, but usually it is caused by either improper chewing or improper food selection. Slow Down!! Chew, Chew and Chew some more!!