Posts made by fancydude

When you say "leeway" is this where the USA can decide to not recognize the marriage of a 12 year old from another country?  Plus, I thought countries ignored each others treaties all the time when they feel like it anyway!  I have read many many complaints about NAFTA, for one example.  Human rights would be another big area of concern with places like the former Soviet Union & China etc…...Arab countries too.

Raphjd - I'll take your word about the treaties - although I wonder why treaties would have to be ratified if our own states can pass laws (and/or update state Constitutions) to not recognize other state's marriages.  IE Iowa doesn't have to recognize a same sex couple married in Massachussetts.  While I don't know for absolute fact that someone has challenged this it seems almost certain that someone would since recognizing marriages and all other things supposedly rests with the "Full Faith and credit"clause in our (USA) Constitution.  Which is what they say is how each state recognizes other states straight marriages, credit card debt all other legal instruments…..

Still, wouldn't marriages versus civil unions be an internal matter for the USA or any other country?  I don't think a 12 year old girl married in an Arab country coming to the USA would be considered married here?

Not quite me - You started off saying you can never believe any person is infallible and now you say "whatever the pope decides have to be accepted universally by the catholic church."  And the answer is "yes, his infallible statements must be accepted" and no that doesn't mean anything and everything he says must be accepted.  I can't really think of any infallible statements that contradict anything already in the Bible can you?  I mean, I just love the fundies - they will quote a verse that says something about "Jesus' brothers and sisters."  At that time, people referred to all their people as brothers and sisters.  Just as the priest or pope now says "Brothers and Sisters I welcome you in the name of Christ to celebrate Mass today…"  But they claim that is "proof" Mary was not ever-virgin.  If you think about it, virginity was a huge deal in those days and women guarded it very carefully.  If Mary really thought she had given birth to God himself, I don't suppose it would have been inconceivable that she remained chaste for the rest of her life.  The majority of Nuns do it.  Some fail, like all people.  But I think most of them are faithful to their vows.  They're crabby enough is proof enough for me!  But to the main point - the Catholic Church would not publish a Bible for all to read that contradicts itself.  Common sense.

On to the morals question - I guess I would have to say the external moral code of the Church and Christianity is superior to what we would think of ourselves.  First, we don't grow up in a vacuum, so I don't know how one would ever come up with their own completely independent code anyway, and it seems (although I readily admit while I read a lot, I can't claim to know everything about every society that ever existed) that many non-Christian societies were very violent and concerned with self-preservation.  Many ancient socieities for instance could care less about children and abortions etc.  The man was the breadwinner and women knew they could easily starve without a husband or brother.  So if the house was on fire, the children would be sacrificed if necessary to save the man.  A woman could have other children, but she could not easily replace her husband/father/brother.  This is not to say that ONLY Christianity spoke of concern for your neighbor but it is rather the most well known and successful philosophy to advocate that.  For example, some say the miracle of the loaves and fishes is NOT magic multiplication of food but rather that Jesus had taught the people to share.

Maybe I can't completely satisfy you when you say "asking a million people" won't result in the 'correct' answer either but I think I"ve done the best I could.  I think Christianity if not unique, is rare in that it lifts up the status of women and the individual in a way not done by most of the world's great religions.  So if that is what you value, then Christianity is for you!

Oh my dear Mr. Mazda - I'm sure if you came for a visit, I could put some weight on you!  My doctor tells me my thyroid is overactive, so I should be skinny, but I'm not.  Anyway, I made fudge for Christmas with half/half, and soup with evaporated milk.  Lots of mayo in the tuna salad….. I was skinny as a kid and young adult, but not for a long while now.  An office job doesn't help, let me tell you. So many jobs have you glued to the computer these days.....and here too on GT.....having fun searching for movies or talking on the forums, still sitting.....

Anyway, for those wanting to lose, my aunt told me years ago how to lose 10 lbs of ugly fat - cut off my head!

I figure many here will think of something else when I say "making homemade mayonnaise" I did as I typed this out…...  but it is a serious recipe.  I was shopping the other day and you know, Miracle Whip and Hellman's Mayonnaise now come in 30 oz. jars instead of 32 oz. and the price is steadily going up, both are quite expensive.   Who is to say they won't shrink the container further in the future??   Anyway, the same market has 48 oz. bottles of soybean or canola oil on sale 4/$10 frequently.  I thought I could probably make mayonnaise cheaper at home at that price.

So I scoured the internet for a recipe but then I remembered the last time I made mayo in the blender, it didn't emulsify properly.  But the recipe I found at Chowhounds promised it was never fail.  The only thing is you need is a stick blender (also called a hand or immersion blender).  So I thought what the heck, I'll try it and found it more than adequate.

The flavor improved on standing a few days also, which was a happy surprise!  (refrigerate immediately of course)

Before you start, make sure the immersion blender will fit inside the container.   Wide mouth quart size home-canning jars worked for me.

Ingredients & method

1 whole egg, medium or larger
1 cup oil of choice
1 tsp dry mustard powder or 1/4 tsp. prepared yellow mustard
1 Tbsp. lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
1 tsp. white vinegar
1/8 tsp. white pepper (I never have this so I just used regular pepper)
1/4 tsp salt (or more, to your own personal taste)
1/4  tsp sugar or 1/2 tsp corn syrup - sometimes I find the sugar doesn't blend in
1/4 tsp garlic powder (optional)

Place egg in bottom of container.  Add remaining spices etc., lastly add oil.  Place the immersion blender into the container (touching the bottom).  Using high speed if you have it, turn blender on until you see white mayonnaise at the sides of the container, about five (5) seconds.  Very slowly lift the blender to the top, about another 5 seconds or so.  You are done.  If you used the sugar, mix by moving the blender up and down in the container for several more seconds.

Mixture will thicken a bit more in the refrigerator.

Of course you can experiment with half olive oil, or corn oil, balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar, various spices.  I didn't try it (with all olive oil) due to the cost, but most of the comments on the site said extra virgin olive oil is too bitter.  That would make sense to me, since some types of olive oil can have a very strong taste.   But you might try 1/3 olive oil to 2/3 something else.    The all corn oil mayonnaise had a nice flavor.

Anyway, as long as you have oil and eggs in the house and a stick blender, you'll never be out of mayonnaise.

PS this recipe was supposed to be "close to Hellman's".  I didn't think it was anything like Hellmans, but it was tasty.  Please let me know how you like it.

PSS - the  quart-sized canning jar was plenty big enough to make a double recipe, so if you like it, you don't have to play around with only one cup at a time unless you want to.

I listen to the right wing (I accidentally typed "right wind" maybe that is the correct description after all?) radio talk shows a few minutes each week just to see what they are saying.  I don't know my history well enough to say whether it has "always" been this way in the USA but it seems for some time now, any political subject is about power, control, and which side of the fence allows the legislator the most likelihood of keeping his/her seat.

So Christmas week, most of the blowhards take vacations and have guest hosts - Rush Limpballs had an British sounding guy who said his neighbor in New Hampshire produced maple syrup and had collection lines snaking through the forest from maple tree to sap collection house.  He claims the "government" didn't specify state or fed - sent a letter to his neighbor asking if the lines were "protected from terrorists"  with the host suggesting the government worried about maple syrup being deliberately sabotaged with anthrax?  (ie show me the letter!!)  As if I believe everything a  rightwinger says about the government with no proof.  And they always claim liberals are gullible and dumb.    Then he goes on to say Obama says "now DADT is done, we can go on to the economy."  Rags about "hopefully everything is okay for Gays, will the Gays get enough on this or that economic reform, tax cut etc.  Maybe we should check with the "Gays" about everything.  The host is really tying Obama to the Gays as if Obama  can't make a move if it doesn't make the "Gays" happy.  Wish I caught his name.  I'm not kidding, he said both of these things about the maple syrup & Obama & Gays.

On Sean Hannity's show is a woman host interviewing the lone woman Republican senator elect "kelly" somebody.  Didn't catch the hosts name nor Kelly's last name.   They talk for about 20 minutes, no exaggeration, about "taking the country back" and "I ran for office because I don't like the direction the country is going, I have two small children who will not have the opportunities we had" etc. etc. etc.  They said precisely ONE specific thing in all that time and that is the debt is out of control.

Yes, it is, mostly put there by THEIR party, the Republicans due to spending 1 billion EACH day on a war in Iraq that accomplished nothing.  Anyway, my point is that with all the talk about Democracy and American values, one of which is FREEDOM, it seems a very core American value to allow people freedom of choice.  Especially since we have had Same Sex marriage in Massachussetts for how long now? 8 or 9 years and the sky hasn't fallen?

PS I'm vehemently opposed to civil unions.  Separate is NOT equal, I pay the same taxes and have all the same responsibilities to obey all the other laws the breeders do.  I want MARRIAGE same as they have.  Actually, to be completely logical, EVERYONE should have civil unions since that would make the government neutral on the topic (which they should be anyhow) and the Churches should give marriage.  Then if you wanted to get married you could go to an MCC church or Quaker or a denomination that allows it.

Notquiteme- I'll start with you first since your reply is shorter.  No one said the person of the Pope is infallible, (or any person) only certain very rare statements made by the Pope.  There have only been less than a dozen in over 2000 years and they are pretty reasonable statements, if you believe God has some mystery to Him and accept He founded the Roman Catholic Church to represent Him on earth.  (which I do).  I'm assuming by the way you speak you go to Catholic Church already?  Now, people have a terrible capacity for self indulgence, rationalization and denial, so I would never say people should pick their own moral values. I can't say anymore than that without writing a book.  I think if you consider other value systems, they would seem hard to take indeed.  American Indian tribes are often thought to be far superior to European (Catholic) systems since they didn't have a concept of property rights and other things endemic to Capitalism, but their primitive way of life would have been wiped out by another system eventually if not the way it historically occurred.  Not saying this is right, but would have happened.  Now all this peace and mother earth stuff- how do you feel about leaving the old, sick and weak along the trail to die if the tribe was on the move?  We can dissect every other culture and find many examples of  similar things we find abbhorent based on how we were raised.

Spintendo:

The table was a lovely thought, and well intended, I don't think I disputed that. I still believe it is making huge assumptions, (even if 7 of the 8 variables are valid) the conclusions drawn are invalid.  It is like saying a car if metal and a car moves people, cars make less pollution than they did 20 years ago.  All valid, but hardly is it a complete comparison of modern life vs. 200 years ago.

I don't think because we are rejecting slavery we are rejecting the morality of the Bible.  I don't view the  Bible as a manual like so many fundamentalist Bible Christians do.  We are to look at the message the Bible is sending.  At the time of slavery, one couldn't just go to Walmart or K-mart or wherever and apply for a job, those places didn't exist.  The status of women had to be what it was in ancient times since women were needed in the home - cooking and washing clothes was pretty much an all day affair.  Not that men couldn't do these things, but it made sense since it was the woman who often needed lots of recovery time after childbirth which was done at home.  So if you were supposed to treat slaves decently, one presumes being a slave was better than starving to death. or not?  I can't remember the other story, but I remember hearing some fundy preacher complain about the ancients not reading the Bible or something (ignoring the fact most people couldn't read) and I remember some pundit saying " shall we be angry at God that the printing press wasn't invented sooner?'

You are half right and half wrong on paragraph  4 - the thread talked about "what the Bible really says about S & G." (meaning does it really say homosexuality is wrong?)  Which I advocate it doesn't and historically this idea was NOT "Always" talked about.  The thread definitely does not ask if we can judge if God made the right decision.  I suppose we could second guess God, but I don't know where that gets us.

As to your last paragraph, I"ve already said (I think) that the Bible is full of insights and wisdom, human nature doesn't really change all that much.  I'm willing to take the Bible in its entirety if it is interpreted correctly.  And contrary to what some think, this does not mean "making" the Bible say what I want it to.  It means that things like don't wear fabrics of two fibers etc. are antiquated products of their time and try to extract the timeless messages.

I don't know, I can't tell everything that is needed from the photo.  I volunteer to come over and check to make sure everything is ok.  I do have my CMA certificate (certified Medical Assistant).

Overdosing on food, probably yes for most of us.  But it can lead to death depending on your overall health!  Just a little holiday cheer!  By the way Mr. skinny Mazda, when do YOU over dose on food?  Apparently only at Christmas.  You can't tell I'm envious, can you?  ::)

And you pee out of your cock, but it is still really great for other things too…..........

Um, when did straight people STOP having anal sex?  They do too, you know.  Part of the reason it was such a vile sin was because in centuries past, guys did it to "thwart the will of God" (avoiding reproduction) - Genesis - "be fruitful and multiply ...." etc.

I realize I'm posting late, but you know I got much better internet service so I'm looking at the forums more - and my reply is timeless so it really doesn't matter:

Since ballots are secret, I always wonder how they decide which group voted which way.  It must be other kinds of surveys' or exit polls, of course, but whenever stats are reported right along side the actual votes it makes it seem like we "know" exactly how people voted.  At least it does to me.  And of course, we don't.

The other thing, odd how the younger Asian segment voted more in favor of Prop 8, but as already noted english proficiency was not part of the survey…..

WV Sailor - what kinds of derogatory remarks were these young men making?  About you?  About Americans?  How young were they if they came in with their parents to apologize?  I certainly am not excusing whatever bad thing they did, but I would assume bad behavior in teens is not terribly unusual.  Also if they were "forced" to apologize by their parents how much does it mean?  (and I wasn't there, I don't know these people but I know Muslims also, saving face is not always the same thing as "honor" either).  Finally, how exactly does this story relate to the original topic?  I must have missed something.

Reminds me of the quote by one of my favorite 17th century French philosophers, Voltaire, who said:

There will not be a lawyer in heaven until hell is full!

So…Leatherbear, it is "Hairy Christmas" instead of "Merry Christmas...."  I guess !  :hug2:

We don't know any names at all?  I particularly like Cowboy #1 & 2 and ha004 right underneath - the guy with the slightly spikey hair, grasping his own..... 

Well, if not, thanks for the incredible eye candy.

I readily concede I haven't made these yet, but in reading over the recipe, it is hard to see how one could go wrong.  Can you guess it is from the Kraft Foods website?  Ha ha!

All the website reviews were glowing and apparently these are foolproof because reviewers indicated the second time they made them, one used more cheese, another used more garlic etc.  As a Polski, I second more garlic! It was also surprising how many people said everyone liked them, even their family members who don't normally like spinach and/or artichokes.   I plan to make them before the end of the year but I have to get a mini-muffin pan & will report back then.

I do think they look appealing as well.  (photo below - if you click in the middle of it, it will get bigger.  That works for other things too, doesn't it? )

Warm Spinach & Artichoke Cups

24 won ton wrappers
1 can  (14 oz.) artichoke hearts, drained, finely chopped
1 cup KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 pkg.  (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
1/3 cup KRAFT Mayo with Olive Oil Reduced Fat Mayonnaise
1/3 cup  KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped red peppers
2 cloves  garlic, minced

Make It
HEAT oven to 350°F.

PLACE 1 won ton wrapper in each of 24 mini muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray, with edges of wrapper extending over top of cup. Bake 5 min. Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients.

SPOON artichoke mixture into won ton cups.

BAKE 12 to 14 min. or until filling is heated through and edges of cups are golden brown.

I would say this one is as close to 100% perfect as there is. YUMMY

Now this has to be the most original winter/holiday cartoon I've seen in a long time!  Thanks LB.

I can't say I'm crazy about it either.  And I do love chest hair, beards, mustaches… the normal kind!  Not only that, it looks like a lot of the hair is from where most of us would consider the "beard" area rather than the mustache area. Oh, I"m sure the mustache association has all kinds of criteria and rules for that..... Still 45 minutes a day?  Lotta maintenance!

Spintendo -

No, I'm not going to get upset  - I'm way past all that.  I like a good discussion/argument too.

Now I don't know the Latin term for the fallacy of your "argument" (or point if you will) with the chart, but your chart assumes that all or most of the important factors are there, a huge assumption indeed.

I didn't say humanity was incapable of improving - although I have my doubts.  What I said was in light of how much more we know aggregately than we used to, it doesn't seem we've made much progress, if you factor that in.  What I'm referring to is prior to last 300/400 years, knowledge was confined to the clergy and educated classes.  The mass of people today knows an awful lot in comparison.  And still we have hunger, pollution, underage/undesired pregnancy, substance abuse etc.  Another thing that bothers me greatly is how often we have these economic debates of which system is best socialism or capitalism and yet in both we have incredibly lopsided concentrations of wealth (capitalism apparently by design and in socialism due to inevitable human corrruption/greed etc.)  I can't believe we even have to debate something as basic as basic health care for all in the USA when 8% of the people have 90% of the money!  We could use some Bible literalism here - love your neighbor as yourself!

My example on obesity, was way too understated of course you wouldn't catch it, no one would - I meant to suggest that in many ways we simply exchange one set of problems for another.  A much more clear example - the status of women.  For a very few, the modern world offers them everything a man can get and formerly only a man could get, unless you were born into the monarchy (as a female, we're speaking of) but most women in industrial countries not only have to work, they have 80-90% of the work they did when they stayed home!  And it gets even worse since modern medicine has allowed the elderly to live longer than ever, so she has to take care of parents too.

I don't know if there is any way to objectively quanitfy the sum of this, but I think you see what I"m driving at now.

As to the Bible have less relevance in our lives, well, certainly as Gay people that is a good thing, unless of course Boswell is to be believed and prior to the Middle Ages, Europe was fine with Same sex relationships .  It does seem things go in waves, whatever is politically expedient.  I've read an awful lot on that subject - ordered books even - I"m trying to think of the one by Greenburg where he discusses graph/grid (homosexuality is allowed or not depending on how the society is structured) and then there are the rumors or is it facts that the great Margaret Mead was completely misled by the natives…. who knows?  I'm sorry to have raised more questions than answers.....

And please don't ignore my last line - about Jesus' basic message and it is just as hard to be forgiving today!  Did you see the movie "Body of Lies?"  If any of the underlying ideas are true, and they seem to be, imagine how hard it is to forgive if you've been lied to?  If you as a leader are at odds with a huge fundamental sect in your culture.  Trying to work with the West which vacillates, changes leaders every few years and values expedience over almost everything? Work Love your neighbor into that equation!

Photo #3 might be legit.  I had a boyfriend  who came a lot; I jacked him off once while he was sitting on the couch and his chest was covered with jizz.  AND he had small balls too.  

update - I took another look at #3 - it does look too white.  And that is A LOT.  Probably fake.  Fun thought though!