Tired_Old_Man

He had enough happiness and enjoyment (by doing what he loved) in his short life to fill the lives of many of us who's combined age would be 3 times his age. Better to die in your 40's loving every bit of your life than to live to 100 as couch potato.

If you read the investigation report of any aircraft accident, you will notice that one thing never dooms a plane to crash. In fact two things don't. It normally takes 4 or 5 or more things. If one person doesn't do his job properly, there are usually three or more people who have the chance to pick up the error. A fully loaded 747 from my airline blew two engines on take-off. The plane was a few hundred feet off the ground and over Water, so the pilot nosed the plane down, applied more power to the other two engines until the plane was stabilized and then climbed as slowly as possible until he was high enough to dump about 30,000 gallons of fuel, and then he landed the plane safely. You probably didn't hear about that one. But why should you? Except for a few "white knuckles", no one was hurt.

When I went to college in the early 1960's, my school offered a course in "Comparative Religions". I would imagine that sitting in a "Comparative Religions" class today would be Holy Hell considering how polarized our society is. I took Economics 101 as a freshman. The professor had 2 books on the required reading list. One was a typical Keynesian textbook and the other by maverick economist Milton Freeman. The ideas on economic theories espoused in the books were as different as black and white. Also, in English 101, our professor had us write a 1000 word argumentative paper on any topic and point of view we wanted. After I did my (pre-google) research and I turned in my outline, it came back marked passing, with a note; "Now write your paper from the opposite point of view". Those two courses thought me that there are always two (maybe many more) sides to every story. I learned to think of the counter-punch before throwing by (verbal) punch. The problem is that when you have 10 people in a room and each of them is of a different religion, but each "KNOWS" that his religion is the one and only correct religion, there is no more discourse. As I tried to show a few posts back, one can believe that the Bible was written by people divinely inspired by God, but that does not prove that everything (or anything) your Minister, Priest, Rabbi, Imam or Ayatollah tells you is true. TOM PS: “You” and “your” in the above are used in the rhetorical sense and are not aimed at any member.

You could have at least corrected my typo. You evil moderator, you!! Would that have been too much troulbe?:embarassed: You are right of course. Many PC fluent people can alter any PC document. And with the right programs (or wrong programs) time stamping and even hex editing can be done that will confound all but the most sophisticated PC detective.

You're welcome. Someone will probably use that quote to prove that I am an evil troulbe maker.:eek:

Since the phases of the Moon effect the tides and since your body is 90% water, I guess a full Moon effects the tides in your body and brain.

Also when a heavy debate starts, members quote other members using the forums tools. ********************************************* So if you have me; "TOM" on your ignore list and I write "shutup you #?!@#" to MS_XYZ. MS_XYZ will write How dare you? ********************************************* You will then see what TOM wrote even though TOM is on the ignore list.

I would start by reading your Bible, both Old and New Testaments. You may find that women are not treated that well in the Bible either. The Qur'an gives women many rights, but just like the Bible, women must be submissive to males in their family. The Burkas are an exaggeration of tradition. Christians have exaggeration of tradition also. What we now look at as Santa Claus is from a 1931 Coca Cola commercial. Christians Celebrate Christmas on December 25, but there is much evidence that Jesus was born on April 17 in the year 6 bc. The date of December 25th was decided by the originally Pagan emperor of Rome Constantine, who after decreeing that all Romans would convert to Christianity (Roman Catholic) needed to stop the worship of a pagan god on December 25th, so he figured, let them celebrate, but just change the reason for the celebration. I know that Santa Claus and the date of Christmas are not as important as the slave-like conditions of women in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries, but I was just showing how misreading and tradition can distort the content of Holy Books. I doubt if you can find in the Bible any justification for "The inquisition" or "The Salem Witch Hunt". Just a week or two ago a 81 year old women who had taught Bible study for generations was fired by a young priest because he didn't want her teaching males.

The covenant that God made with Abraham to give control of Canaan to Abraham's offspring was to both the Jews and Muslims, because Abraham had two sons, one which became the leader of the Jews and one the leader of Islam. So each of these two religious groups is equally entitled. Many times you will hear that someone is anti semitic when they say something negative about a Jew or anything Jewish, but I think you will find most of the people who are now know as Jews are only part Jewish but mostly European. That includes most of the present inhabitants of Israel. The original Jews, Abraham and his sons Isaac and Ismael were Semites, but while the descendants of Isaac have been deluded by white European blood, by and large the Muslims are much more purer in bloodline and therefor the true Semites. So actually, being anti-Islam might just as easily (if not more so) be anti-semitic. However, what I have written above is pure interpretation. Most people agree that the Bible and the Qur'an both state that God made a covenant with Abraham. Since both books are talking about the same God and same Abraham, then Allah and the God of the Christians and Jews are the same being. The problem, of course comes about with Jesus. Is Jesus God? Is Jesus the son of God? Is God Jesus? The Jews are willing to follow the teachings of Moses that were sent down by God/Allah and God/Allah says that all those that follow the teachings that God/Allah sent through Moses will gain eternal life. The Muslims are willing to follow the teachings of Mohammad that were sent down by God/Allah and God/Allah says that all those that follow the teachings that God/Allah sent through Mohammad will gain eternal life. But while some Christians "KNOW" that they must follow the teachings of Jesus that were sent down by God/Allah and God/Allah says that all those that follow the teachings that God/Allah sent through Jesus will gain eternal life, other Christians "KNOW" that they must follow the teachings of Jesus that were sent down by God/Allah, they must also believe that Jesus is God/Allah and that they must have a personal relationship with Jesus and they also "KNOW" that only they will gain eternal life. In the Qur'an, it states that Jews, Muslims and Christians have equal rights to eternal life. However, God/Allah says the Jesus is neither a deity nor his son. God/Allah says that Jesus, Moses, Noah, Mohammad were each prophets sent to a different people at a different time to teach the word of God/Allah and each people, if they follow the teachings of their prophet will gain eternal life. So the Jews accept Moses as a prophet, the Muslims accept Mohammad as a prophet, but most Christians “KNOW” that must believe that Jesus was more than a prophet, but also God and the son of God. Some people ask me if I believe the bible was divinely inspired. Let's stipulate that the bible was divinely inspired. But is it not fair to ask if it was divinely translated? But is it not fair to ask if it was divinely transcribed? But is it not fair to ask if it was divinely interpreted? But is it not fair to ask if the choice of which books to include was divinely inspired? How come the Jewish version of what the Christians call the "Old Testament", has sections that are not in the "Old Testament"? How come the Christian's "Old Testament" has sections that are not in the Jewish version of the "Old Testament"? How come Constantine, originally a Pagan emperor of Rome hand-picked a commission to decide what sections went into the bible and what didn't go into the bible? How come at least two English queens and two English kings made revisions in what has become the Christian Bible? Did you know that the Roman Catholics, the Protestants and the Jews each have different versions of the 10 Commandments? I am tired of writing. I hope I got this right. I didn't feel like doing a bunch of googles, so it is out of my head and I think I am going out of my mind.

Exercise does not remove fat from a specific area of the body. Exercise can only tone muscles in a specific area of the body. You will remove just as much fat from your thighs by doing biseps curls as you will by using a thigh master. Lose your weight (and therefor your fat) slowly or the skin will be too large and hang. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk then ride a bike. If you can't do that, do arm exercises. Arm exercises will still help you take of your thigh fat.

Murry the "K" used to say, "You can pick your friends, not your relatives". You may have to give them a choice: "Either you stop abusing me or you are not welcome in my home" (and you stay away from theirs).

Don't worry about wedding day problems. My wedding was a disaster. The prospective best man got way-layed and never made it. After the ceremony, I heard my car's burglar alarm go off, jumped the fence to "protect my car" and snagged my pants so badly that they were ripped half way up my butt. We got someone else (my eventual brother-in-law) who would not have been MY candidate to be the best man to fill in and I just changed my clothes for the reception. BTW, 2 months ago, we celebrated out 39th wedding anniversary. That is the only part that matters.

I want to apologize to anyone who might think I meant anything other than what I actually meant. By "What a Croc: Croc Hunter killed!", I meant that it was a Croc of terrible news or more appropriately "$hittie New$". I didn't like the man's style, but I do not believe in the death penalty for murder, let alone for (what I consider) poor taste. Sorry if anyone misunderstood. I can see how it was mis-interpretted. I was so distressed by the news that I woke my wife up to tell her about it, something which after 39 years of marriage, I realize is almost as perilous as messing with prehistoric reptiles. Luckily for me she was as concerned as I was. Just least week, I woke her to tell her about the approach of hurricane Ernesto and I had to make my own Breakfast as punishment. TOM PS: The reason I find out about these stories so early is that we usually sleep with the TV on and CNN is one of the stations I am tuned to most often.

How do you know if some hacker can get the voting records from this or any other poll at this forum? I have been at other forums and people with advanced computer knowledge were able to find out who voted for each choice and then they published the results to embarrass the members.

My team's quarterback just had his appendix removed. First he bangs his face into a car, then he has part of his gut removed. Can my Steelers over come adversity with a faceless, gutless quarterback?:faint: Call the season off. I am NY Jets fan and Pittsburgh Steeler's Fan. The gods are not looking kindly on my football needs.

By the way, that Pilot's name was Jack. One day he was walking up the jetway to the plane as I was leaving the cockpit. The 747 pilot was with his co-pilot and flight engineer. They all said, "Hello TOM". I knew all three of them well and said, "Hi Bill. Hi Dany. Hello Jack."

Many years ago, I was leaving the hangar to go home on my motorcycle and I walked past a pilot who was waiting for the bus that went from the hangar to the terminal in order to catch his flight. He saw me and said, "TOM, I didn't know you rode a motorcycle. Isn't that dangerous?" I answered with a question, "Captain, has any of your neighbors (upon finding out that you were a pilot) said, "I didn't know you flew airplanes. Isn't that dangerous"?"

Cleveland Clinic in Weston Florida

I wish my combination of head hunger and biological hunger were as controllable as your fill regiment seems to have made it for you. I envy you. Keep up the good work.

I have flown more than 400 times. More people die in their bathrooms taking showers and baths than die in commercial airliner crashes. More people died in the 7 day period ending in (and including) 911 in auto crashes than in plane crashes.

Those disclaimers may be there for insurance purposes. But people tend to ignore them. In Florida, many 'gator attacks are attributed to people feeding the prehistoric reptiles causing a loss of fear by 'gators towards the larger humans. I will not blame Mr. Irwin for the bad things that (some of) his viewers might do, but I do think his style was bad for many of us. I also respect your opinion, though we differ. I stand corrected. I thought it was his daughter. If I was to edit my opening post, I would edit it to say, "And I was disgusted when he had his infant (or young child) around the reptiles in what I considered to be less than normal fatherly situation." I, however will not edit the post. An edit would make this and your post seem non-sensible.

Fills don't help with head hunger. Keeping busy, talking to people in person preferably or via phone if that's the only way, going to a church, jogging, working out at the gym, taking a drive, going for a swim, almost anything to occupy your mind is better than being home doing nothing or watching TV. Head hunger needs head treatment. Support groups or one on one counseling are most helpful. Then there is the last resort of mind-games. Say I will not eat until the clock strikes the next hour. If you make that, go for the next hour. If you can't make it to the next hour, shoot for the next half-hour mark. Keep trying to extend yourself. It is hard. I went through it. Most of us went through it.

I think the less aggressive a surgeon is with fills and the slower he creeps up to the optimum fill point, the less chance you will have for PB's. That is assuming that you tailer your eating to the restriction level each time. I was doing fine until my second fill. Then PB's like mad. The surgeon added more Fluid to solve the problem. I argued with him that a partial de-fill would have been a better solution, but he said he had experience. He was wrong. The PB's got worse. When I moved from Brooklyn to Florida and changed doctors, the new doctor gave me more saline and my PB's continued to get worse. Finally after one more add, they had to empty my band because I could hold nothing down except clear fluids. I have been unrestricted now for about 4 months. So, Elisabeth, please do not worry about PB's following you next fill, because I think your doctor is going about it the right way.

Hi Mel and Happy Holiday to ya. I hope that we will not be of any help to you because everything will go so smoothly that you will never need any... BUT WE WILL BE HERE FOR YOU IF YOU DO NEED US.

Putting a dog to sleep is one of the traumatic things that I have ever had to do (though it was the vet who actually performed the deed). Recently I was debating getting a cortisone shot for my bad knee (3 surgeries, next time artificial knee). My choice was 10 seconds of pain and 6 to 8 months of being able to walk without continual agony or skip the 10 seconds of pain that accompanies the injection and suffering every time I walk in continual agony. My wife, sister-in-law and brother-in-law all said they would skip the needle to avoid the needle's pain. I took the injection. What does this have to do with dogs? The pain of putting away a dog hurts much more than any needle, but the pleasure that a loving dog can give you is only surpassed by the love and life-giving fulfillment that raising a child can provide. No one should put off living because there is death at the end of the road. If you want a dog, do not let the specter of his demise deter you. Buy the kind of dog that you most like. I have had 5 German Shepherds. They lasted from 11 years to 14 years (except for a puppy that had to be put away at 9 months). I love all of them, and cried and mourned each one almost as if each were human. Getting a new dog after one dies can help so much. It is a major difference between mourning a human and a dog. You can't go out and bring home another mother, father, etc. But you can bring home another dog, and no matter how much you loved the last one, when the puppy licks your face, your mind is relieved. Now, we have an unusual mix: Half Malamute, half PitBull. We love him just as much (and maybe more) than any of our German Shepherds. He is 11 and in good health. I fear putting him away, because he will be our last dog. I fear having to tell my grand-daughter where her beloved Rocky is on that day. I am crying as I write this, so I must stop.