C James

Does that second part evenmake sense..? In my totally unbiased and impartial opinion: of course it does!

I agree with you about advertising! UGH! I will never understand why most of it works. Even if an add makes me hungry for, say, peanuts, I have no clue why anyone would choose one brand over another. I also find adds incredibly annoying. If I watch TV at all, I record it so I can FF through the darn things. Join the Goats! Join the Goats!

I'm REALLY looking forward to the Winter Anthology! Whose am I looking forward to? Easy, I'm looking forward to all of them!

Nick, Best wishes for Taylor's speedy recovery! I hope all goes well, for both of you. I have to disagree with you on one thing, though: I think it is fine to hit back if you are physically hit first, regardless of the genders involved. I don't mean responding to a slap with a closed fist, but in the case of a real blow, I don't see where gender is relevant; if you are hit, you have a right to hit back.

Bob, that is eloqent, and so true! Happy Birthday to all three Birthday Twins! :king:

And you being active last year is why the forums stayed more active. Kevin, you are less than 200 posts way from your 2000th! And, the only reason I have more posts than you is that you have been here longer than I have.

Surely, it must be a coincidence!

I know of several people who are offline for holiday or travel related reasons. I also notice that posting has picked up a bit in the last 24 hours.

In case anyone missed the announcement and is wondering where they went, the Games and the Humor threads have been moved to the new Games and Humor forum (a sub-forum of the Lounge) that was requested by many members.

:king: Happy Birthday Kitty!! :king: Best wishes on the special day, and many happy returns!

:king: Happy Birthday!!! :king: Many happy returns!!!

Happy Birthday Rob!!! Many happy returns, my friend, and have a great day!!!!!!!!!!

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ross, thanks! Now that's my kind of xmass music.

Yeah, I just checked in today and saw hardly any posts. I've been prety much absent from GA for a few days due to the flu, but I was really surprised to see it go this quiet. Must be the holliday season?

That was my favorite part of the chapter, too. LoL! It was fun to write. Poor Steve: he's not dumb, but he has his "blond moments" on occasion! I suspect he's right: his freinds won't be letting him live it down any time soon. I was originally thinking that Chris would catch him, but when I wrote that he darted between the cars, I had to do it. What? No sympathy for poor, lovable Eric? He's being dragged off for a long stay in Juvenile hall. But Rick, I did say at some point that they would get to sleep together, and now they are!

There is a huge problem with a "call to engagement": It simply cannot work, and worse, it is misleading as it seems to offer the hope that it might. There are many reasons why it cannot work with Iran: The largest is that it ignores the internal political dynamic (The Guardian Council's desire to retain its shaky hold on power) that is the prime motivator for Iran's behavior. In other words, the dynamic is internal, not external, and it is one that we cannot affect via "engagement". The Guardian council are not fools: they have not been inept and confrontational for no reason. Their reason is to generate external crises to shore up domestic support. Also, "engagement" and above all "trade" are so often cited as an alternative to rivalry and conflict. The problem there is that they do not work, or, more precisely, they create what they seek to avoid. Europe, for example, is very "engaged" with Iran, both economically and politically. It isn't working. All it has succeeded in doing is making the West look weak and spineless. Let us also look to history as we judge the efficacy of engagement and trade. What was Japan's largest trading partner in Dec 6th, 1941? The US. What were Germany's #1 and #2 trading partners on Aug 30th, 1939? France and the UK. What was Germany's largest trading partner and military partner on June 21st, 1941 (the day before Germany launched operation Barbarossa? The USSR. If we want to get serious about Iran (the same Iran that has topped the Terror-supporting states list for four consecutive US administrations) the first thing to address is their nuclear program, as everything else is secondary. Given the Guardian council's preposterous claims that they seek nuclear power for energy, combined with the vast amount of internal dissent in Iran, the most obvious strategic opening is to exploit those circumstances. The regime has set it self up for a massive backlash, if it can be shown to be misleading the people, to their detriment. The key here is Gasoline. Iran does not have exploitable reserves of Uranium, so they can never have (as they have claimed as their goal) a nuclear energy program not reliant on foreign sources. This fact has been ignored by the West. Further, so has the Iranian Gasoline situation: for all their claims of needing nuclear power to reduce their energy vulnerability, Iran, which has some of the world's greatest oil reserves, has never bothered to build the refining capability to produce gasoline sufficient for their needs. As a result, Iran is one of the world's largest importers of Gasoline. Were that supply (much of it currently from Venezuela, one of the few countries with sufficient surplus refining capacity) cut, Iran would face a fuel crisis, and the Guardian Council would be made to look like fools for pursuing nuclear power while ignoring Iran's fossil-fuel refining capability. Thus, their internal dissent problem might be exploited. The only answer to the Iranian situation is greater pressure, either what I outline above or other means. Engagement isn't the answer, because it ignores the causal factors. We also don't have much time: The further along their nuclear program progresses, the less effect an air strike, even if successful, will have upon it. We have no need to invade Iran, and we certainly do have the military ability to conduct air strikes, but the window of opportunity is closing fast.

Thanks Myr! That is really cool! I love it! (I love statistics) Matthew!! It is unreasonable to expect a new feature to work perfectly. Statistical glitches, is all. CJ (Just a quiet and shy forum lurker )

Chapter 6, "ENDGAME", is now online Enjoy!

Thank you!!!!!! I do agree that the blackmail plot could have been done better. I can't really say too much without giving spoilers, but some of the above will be in Ch 6. BTW, Ch 6 will be online Tuesday afternoon, US time. Thanks again!!

ROFL!! Well, those "squealing tires" were added, along with a few other things to improve the imagery of the car chase, thanks to your suggestions regarding "showing rather than telling". So, anyone have any guesses as to what Steve meant when he said "LOOK!" at the end of the chapter?

Thank you for that link!!!!! I love astronomy photos!

EMoe! Not you too? Surely you are not allowing yourself to be mislead by a few incongruous numbers? It's slander, i say, SLANDER! Perhaps I should hereby issue a call for everyone who believes that I am a lurker to join the fray? My fellow lurkers, UNITE! I think I'm just about over the flu (which is why I wasn't around GA very much these past few days). Ugh, I have decided that the flu is not fun. ROFL!!! Well, there is always the the fun of interaction with the local homophobic fundies and Mormons, to see which one can out-do themselves coming up with new ways to say "abomination". Actually, it is often quite amusing to hear them struggle with words that are unfamiliar to them, (basically, anything in excess of two syllables).