ExiledInIllinois

Outside of the obvious offenses of fraud... Aren't the people who fell for her to blame? What did they think they were getting in return. Isn't this like falling for a "Nigerian scam" type thing. How stupid does one have to be to not check out her story. Hate... To put it on the swindled... But aren't they the bulk of the problem. What did they expect in return?

Looks like Mead is "making bank." Have a nice happy ending... Or as they say in the NFL: Krafty Ending.

What was your bill 12 months later? Ouch?

Wow... Ain't that special. Heck, aren't we all special! The World is made for you! Each and every one of us! Now there's the spirit! ??

I don't live in Chicago. I don't even live in Cook County. I do work there and am working overnights, 1800-0600. Yes, first I am hearing. I have no social media presence (except this place, if you want to call it that)... Again yes. I really don't follow news some days, etc...

You gotta be kidding!

I guess he doesn't have Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_stratospheric_cloud The stratosphere is very dry; unlike the troposphere, it rarely allows clouds to form. In the extreme cold of the polar winter, however, stratospheric clouds of different types may form, which are classified according to their physical state and chemical composition.[4] Due to their high altitude and the curvature of the surface of the Earth, these clouds will receive sunlight from below the horizon and reflect it to the ground, shining brightly well before dawn or after dusk. PSCs form at very low temperatures, below −78 °C (−108 °F). These temperatures can occur in the lower stratosphere in polar winter. In the Antarctic, temperatures below −88 °C (−126 °F) frequently cause type II PSCs. Such low temperatures are rarer in the Arctic. In the Northern hemisphere, the generation of lee waves by mountains may locally cool the lower stratosphere and lead to the formation of lenticular PSCs. Forward-scattering of sunlight within the clouds produces a pearly-white appearance. Particles within the optically thin clouds cause colored interference fringes by diffraction. The visibility of the colors may be enhanced with a polarising filter.[1][5]

An even more brilliant story, linked from above story. Police interview backfires. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41950775 He answered the police interview in farts: "...Explosive new details have now emerged of Mr Sykes's original interview in September that was brought to an abrupt end. According to the Kansas City Star newspaper, a detective's report said Mr Sykes "leaned to one side of his chair and released a loud fart" when asked for his address by police while being interviewed in September..."

I deserved it. I just can't leave well enough alone expressing my frustration.

Genie is out of bottle.

I understand. I got no hard feelings toward you. I understand your POV. I didn't mean to slam NZ. They are working together for a common good.

LoL... There's a diagram! ? Happy Birthday Wacka!!!!! Hope you are doing well! [One of the various posters I met and the cool Cheektowaga guys... Even if we do enjoy pink flamingos on our lawns!]

Maybe I am in the minority. But spinning our wheels all praying and feeling sorry for the deceased really accomplishes little. Yet... I do understand & appreciate the power of prayer... Not saying give that up. But let's be pragmatic here. "We look for love no time for tears Wasted water's all that is And it don't make no flowers grow." And... Don't misconstrue taking action as being political. Inaction, apathy, albeit lacking any outward appearance of "being political" is deadly, lethal. The being political card... Is a cop out for not wanting change, having to make hard choices by the ones with little involvement in the tragedies but have a lot of personal skin in the game. IMO. What's the only way right of center to move with this debate? Do nothing? Pray? Tell the suffering to white knuckle through it, pick themselves up by the boot straps. Sounds pretty archaic, to me, for complicated times. Maybe the only conservative answer that I find acceptable is to slow society down from it's complicated, fast paced tempo. Yeah, that's really going to happen. What's the answer? Just grieve and move on as these problems barrel at us in multitudes? Or go right to the source and give it a whirl and see what happens. Seems like we are paralyzed by our own paranoia & fear.

This is Gugny inviting his friend to sit down and enjoy a cup 'o Joe: God, Airplane! was the greatest movie ever! Oh... BTW... I have drank about a teaspoon of coffee in my whole 51 years of existence.

Energy drink, soda. That's it. Should change that to per week. I put zero... Because I go days, sometimes weeks withOUT caffeinated drink.

Exactly! It's a downward spiral into the wild west. Look at the Dallas road rage beat down, punch up. Dude, comes out brandishing a weapon. Now... Both are really to blame here... But really... That needed to be escalated with a firearm? YES, WTF was she doing slapping him up side the head AFTER he slapped her phone away? But really... Notice the piece he's brandishing. The only reason he's doing that is because, he does not know who else may be packing. This is how we solve traffic issues (which I believe she purposefully flaunted). Really?

Sorry... I am guilty of the finger pointing. I will try better not to do that. How do you get people to capture the real meaning? Stop thinking about themselves first. It's like a wild west saloon out there and nobody is checking their weapon. There has to be be full compliance. Heck, you can't even get people to wait @ a red light when there is no traffic around! What's the answer for the Surly Joe's of the world? There is no paranoia.

Yeah. What if Buffalo was NOT so snooty to the auto industry? Detroit still had it's problems... Now. Detroit's micro-climate is way more tempered and way more conducive to driving around in the dead of winter. Before anybody gets upset, remember, paved roads were a luxury. I assume if vehicles didn't exist , neither did plows. BUT Buffalo did invent the windshield wiper blade! BTW... How does one write the 00s clearly? LoL... Teens are teens, 20s, 30s, etc... The zeros a bit confusing, especially with this tough crowd!

Knows the pefect place to dispose of a 22 metric ton deck... During the cover of night is the only hitch. But trust him, he won't get caught and worked out all the hitches, including the darkness issue. ...Boy! Won't your neighbors be surprised in the morning!

Yep! Seems luck too. Look at all the local breweries. Then the big national ones smashed them. Now people are back to drinking the small stuff. We are doomed... Not sure what it is. Timing, luck, geography. Faired so well through Wars... Boom times. If you want to read a good book: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Fine-Time-Verlyn-Klinkenborg/dp/0226443353 More definitive, more academic than narrative: https://www.amazon.com/High-Hopes-Rise-Decline-Buffalo/dp/0873957350 Not being a HQ town hurt. During down turns in economy, companies retreat towards their Headquarters. Labor town @ disadvantage.

Yep... Before Tesla and the AC motor, current wars, etc... That's what took BFLo off. Cheap, close power. It was still break-in-bulk with water during the non-winter, rail... Which aided manufacturing. Steel not till 19 zeros. Buffalo did tell Henry Ford to pound salt first with the nascent automobile industry. The rest is history in Detroit. I guess we were banking on the buggy whip factories to win out! ?

I'd say Top 5, if NOT best ever episode on TV! LoL... I think they do kinda fly... But really low to ground. Minivan grill and truck windshield height! The Big Guy, Mr. Carlson was half right... Except domestic Butterballs® are couch potatoes: "Despite their weight, wild turkeys, unlike their domesticated counterparts, are agile, fast fliers. In ideal habitat of open woodland or wooded grasslands, they may fly beneath the canopy top and find perches. They usually fly close to the ground for no more than 400 m (a quarter mile)." He was from Honduras? He had too much wood? Couldn't speak English. Now He lost his -ecker in the process!

My brother drove a coke truck (coal) out of Tonawanda Coke. I think in W.Pa... He had a wild turkey crash through his window. Landed dead on his passenger seat. Feathers everywhere! Oh... I think it's a "troop" of turkeys. But mob is cool too! NSFW. Don't read if you are squeamish: https://nypost.com/2016/10/17/man-has-penis-removed-after-getting-it-stuck-in-a-bottle/

No not really. BFLo faired well during both Wars. BFLo was built for one thing: Break-in-Bulk bewteen Canal & Lakes. The final nail for that economy came in 1959. Powerwise... It was close to Falls. That's what helped BFLo. Black Rock was actually bigger for a time, then absorbed by BFLo. Sad. Think in terms that BFLo's positioning turned it into "Radiator Springs", streamlined transportation systems, improved infrastructure around it, technology to transfer power further away from the Falls (to NYC) were all nails in the original transportation economy and then manufacturing (cheap power) coffin. Yet... Buffalo was the first all paved city in the country... And for good reason, with an average of 100" of snow a year, it had to be hell for land travel on unpaved roads.

I don't get the "moral struggle" about paying for removal of something that is toxic. You would think there's a bigger moral struggle unloaded for free somewhere. I am a bit confused (yes, more than normal). Can you even burn rubbish/leaves/etc.. in Amherst? Ha! Speaking of llamas... When my sister moved into her Vermont house about 15 years ago... Part of the deal was to watch over the llama previous owners had. Until, they could move it. LoL... The thing hated my sister. I think my sister tried to be nice to it? Thing would hiss and spit. LoL... Only in Vermont!