open-thread-icon.jpg


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply

  1. Thanks, folks! Slopey, we’ll see about that 🙂

    BTW I want to share my observations of Damascus. I’ve been there twice, in 2007 and 2010. In 2007 its Old City – one of the very oldest cities on the planet – was a bit run-down but one could see how glorious it used to be. Some renovations had started. But in 2010 there were things like boutique hotels, live jazz in parks, trendy restaurants, and major restorations of old homes. There were even SUV strollers of the same sort one sees in certain neighborhoods of Brooklyn. In short, GENTRIFICATION – and just a year later, the Syrian Revolution is here. Perhaps the What was right after all…

  2. “but allegations by three players who say they were disqualified from a tournament because they weren’t gay enough can proceed to trial, a federal judge said.”

    They can proceed to trial to determine whether or not they are gay?

    I’m guessing the trial will result in a hung jury.

    Welcome back, 6!!

  3. Hey Six Years! Welcome back! Ditto what others said about the situation here aaannnnddddd, in that vain, let me continue on a discussion we’ve been having recently.

    When I mentioned about how health insurance premiums are rising, alot of folks quickly laid the blame on the “greed” of the insurance companies. Well, let’s take a look at some facts.

    I looked up the net profit margins of some leading health insurance companies. My source was the “Value Line” research reports (to which I subscribe). The results:

    Aetna: 2008 – 6.7%, projected for 2011 – 4.1%
    Cigna: 2008 – 5.8%, projected for 2011 – 6.9%
    United Healthcare: 2008- 4.5%, proj. for 2011-4.0%

    By contrast, here is the projected 2011 profit margins for
    some typical consumer roduct companies:

    Direct TV: 10.1%
    McDonalds: 20.6%
    Starbucks: 9.9%

    Comments?

  4. “Do not screw though . . . and bang over . . . their hole covering system”

    “We countersink . . . when we face screw, because unlike wood, if you screw down too hard, the material mushrooms over the head of the screw, leaving a weird little lump? It takes us a little longer, but we like the results. Oh yeah, forgot to say we also predrill pilot holes for screws. So every hole gets two operations before screwing.”

    Sorry, Slopey, I had nothing to add to your Forum post.

    (You’re welcome.)

1 3 4 5 6 7 31