birdog1960

respect. except i'm not sure what libertarian means. we've got self described members of that group here who wax nostalgic for the slave holding, antebellum south. how is that consistent with liberty?

really? we're down to physical attractiveness as a qualification? i'm guessing abe lincoln wouldn't have earned yall's vote. otoh, it does explain reagan's the popularity among cons. who ever said cons were superficial?

northeast sky, left of big dipper when facing that direction: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/press-releases/2015-perseid-meteors/. tonight's the best. hope it's clear.

liberal brains do most of the research at such centers.

nobody has ever won the presidency by losing 6 or more points in the general election. that's how clinton matches with nearly every other candidate (x sanders). it way too early but reading some of the right wing nutjob news sites would make you believe she's done. what that really shows is who they're afraid of. they much prefer the odds against bernie or omalley

she'll still win. i don't think we'll see another repug gov't chief exec till they cull all the looneys from the party. demographics just don't work out. then again, i really like bernie. but he won't win.

absolutely. i can't decide if it's willful ignorance or just plain ignorance that leads so many to ignore this truth and accept the status quo.

i've actually seen it flown more in the last couple of weeks than in the last 20 years.

barbara kingsolver , well known virginian author on the flag: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/03/south-flag-confederate-pride-hatred-racists. i like namaste y'all, too.

also agree. when i rarely spend that much, it's for something i can't make at home with ingredients, skills, time and equipment i don't have or can't find. even then it's a stretch to call it value. i'd put my home dry aged ribeye seared on my ceramic grill at 550 degrees against morton's without fear and for about 1/5th the cost but then again someone else is buying…enjoy!

check could easily be 100 per so you may need more than 50 for the tip. i think you'd be wise to offer to pay that and be insistent and ready when the check comes. as alaska said, sharing is usually a good idea especially when side items are large. makes for a more sociable table. you might consider sharing appetizers with the table - things like artichoke dip work well for that.

they are. its called "fox news".

not at all. he was obviously smart enough to realize that he'd never have made it this far as a dem. the flair for the dramatic ("be outraged") will serve him well in this forum. just not well enough to become president.

wow. looks like philly will be very crowded that weekend. http://articles.philly.com/2015-07-30/news/65001370_1_septa-spokeswoman-jerri-williams-septa-org-regional-rail i was hoping to go to DC when he's there but might have to change plans.

you didn't understand the quote that you reproduced. it's about both. it's about theory and practicality (and one becoming the other).. the arts and sciences. life experiences and library time. they are all complementary and necessary for full understanding. that's why you don't understand. barbers never taught me a thing. (really? barbers?) coaches were mostly uninspiring and pretty intellectually light weight. teachers, parents, relatives? yeah, they mattered. but the great minds throughout history also taught them.

didn't miss it at all. robin william's soliloquy is about life experiences versus formal education. i've had the life experience he specifically mentioned and many others: the smell of the sistine chapel while gazing at the ceiling. his lines miss the point of the converse situation, life experience without formal education. without the book learning, i would not have had the insight to look for hidden messages in the vatican's public artwork. many are quite scandalous, interesting and worthy of attention. there were some very unhappy artists commissioned by the church during the renaissance. for example, in st peter's cathedral: Four marble plinths form the basis of the columns that support the baldachin. The two outer sides of each plinth are decorated with the Barberini family's coat of arms. This series of eight, nearly identical coats of arms forms a narrative that has attracted over the centuries the interest of writers and art historians. The coat of arms itself represents the three bees of the Barberini family. Each shield is enclosed by a woman's head at the top and by the head of a satyr at the bottom. A papal tiara with crossed keys surmounts the shield. All shields look nearly identical, but – if examined one after another starting with the left-hand front plinth – they reveal dramatic changes in the expression on the female face. The coat of arms itself, flat on the first plinth, undergoes a noticeable deformation, progressively bulging up to the sixth shield and flattening again on the last two shields. Above the eighth shield, the female face is replaced by the head of a winged child or putto. The allegory behind the coats of arms is unanimously interpreted as representing the various stages of childbirth. As Witkowski writes: The scene begins on the face of the left-hand front plinth; the woman's face begins to contract; on the second and following plinths the features pass through a series of increasingly violent convulsions. Simultaneously, the hair becomes increasingly dishevelled; the eyes, which at first express a bearable degree of suffering, take on a haggard look; the mouth, closed at first, opens, then screams with piercing realism. ... Finally, comes the delivery: the belly subsides and the mother's head disappears, to give way to a cherubic baby's head with curly hair, smiling beneath the unchanging pontifical insignia.[7] Several explanations have been put forward for this unusually explicit allegory displayed in the most sacred place of Roman Catholic Christianity (the burial place of Saint Peter). Some scholars favor a symbolic explanation, suggesting that Bernini intended to represent the labor of the papacy and of the earthly church through the allegory of a woman's pregnancy.[7] A more popular tradition tells the story of the complicated pregnancy of a niece of Urban VIII's and of his vow to dedicate an altar in St. Peter's to a successful delivery.[8] A third tradition explains the allegory as Bernini's revenge against the pope's decision to disavow a child illegally born to his nephew Taddeo Barberini and the sister of one of Bernini's pupils

well, no. i've been to the sistine chapel. stratford upon avon too. married 30 years to the same woman. so you are wrong on all accounts. but nice try. never considered good will hunting a classic. will did go to harvard tho. actually, it was a pathetic attempt.

now there's something i agree with. but history and language and atlas shrugged? perhaps someone let you do a book report and were polite enough to discuss it without outright humiliating you. let's see that bookstore course list. or have those faculty members moved on?

actually, i accept virtually nothing tasker has ever written here.

i think tasked did upthread.

uh huh no science, moron. i'd be very interested to see a bookstore listing of ayn rand books on a mainline top school course syllabus. tasked should find it easy to locate.

now i'm almost as interested in taskers school as yours. could they be the same?

hmmm... an idaho boarding school? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/06/ayn-rand-idaho_n_2631414.html then there's this wsj writer that seems to disagree with your outlier school: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/04/11/capitalism-shrugged-should-ayn-rand-be-required-reading/

what do you think? i'm betting it's not on any faculty reading list at milton. tasker likely went lone wolf on that one at his schools. i'm thinking his friends simultaneously reading "beyond good and evil" ridiculed him a bit.

it's not as much about judging as it's about peeling away layers of rotten onion. the last few pages have been pretty successful. thing is, even after those are peeled you still have an onion.