Subscribe to what you want, my birth lottery included trees and butterflies, I was raised in a forest in a glass house in a forest. (We had an atrium inside with a forest of trees growing through the roof, and the house was in the middle of a forest)

If I were born black, that person would be me, but I would be different. Besides, I was born a poor black child, sir. ;-)

If my starting line is 50 meters ahead of yours in a 100 yard dash through nothing but luck, that's pretty lucky for me.

I feel pretty successful having made little effort to get there, that's luck.

I don't feel shame because I'm not a normal American that thinks anything they want is something they deserve and need. Best lesson my dad ever taught me was know the difference between want and need and you'll be far happier in life. It's true.

I don't have too much, I have enough, but I still share with those who i feel don't. I've housed multiple friends for free, and even let one live in my yard for 7 years, which in retrospect was at least 5 years too many. My wife and I live comfortably on <$30000 a year. Most Americans can't live on that for one person. Newts do just fine, we take a vacation every year, pay our bills, and eat well.
Maybe that's why I'm so different. I was allowed to roam the wild woods and bayou alone at just over 3, to the point where the neighbors told my parents they were going to call the cops. This was in the middle of Houston, literally a wilderness of (or at least in) modern civilization. ;-)

I did go to school for 24 years (preschool -the ten year plan at Jr college) but never tried hard or practiced, to the point where my trig teacher insisted I was cheating because I didn't pay attention or do homework so she separated me for a big test, the class average dropped a full grade but not me, my neighbors were cheating off me. She left me alone after that. That might be preparations, but it wasn't hard work. It was boring busy work.

I did that, read encyclopedias and dictionaries. That was punishment at my school through 7th grade....but my grandmother read her set through twice for fun. My mother was called "the encyclopedia" in school, with good reason.

I definitely let opportunities pass often. Sometimes because I don't need them and others might, sometimes I'm just lazy and happy so see no need to expend effort, usually because I see opportunities as traps, the bait being some modest short term gain, the cage being large long term obligations. I'm always prepared for opportunities that are for me without preparation. I'm not Trumpian, I understand I have limitations, and don't tend to obligate myself beyond them.

Who said I waited. I've been lucky enough that I didn't have to wait for, nor do I expect luck. Through luck, forethought, and decent planning things have worked out well with minimal effort or sacrifice. I don't rely on luck to dig me out of holes, I tend to watch my step and not fall in them often. You might call that preparation, I call it paying attention. It's working so far.

Hee hee
Hard wood
Hee hee

yeah. woods was no pierrepoint.

I love 84!

I had some friends into exotic cars and we'd take 84 over to the coast now and again, mostly because we had a shit-ton of money and a shit-ton of spare time to kill -- the Dot-Com fucking rocked!

There's a bend in the road just outside La Honda on the coastal side that's a 15mph hairpin with a tree at the apex. It's a lovely goddamn thing, especially when you forget it's there. So here we all come, lane-trading and exercising general assholery in cars that cost what a nice single-family home does.

Oh FUCK, the turn!!

My friend in the 911 does this beautiful trail-brake and swings through the curve. Elise follows suit, complete with smoking tires. Next up is Countach. He BARELY holds it together, but gets through without any real drama.

Now it's my turn.

Did I mention I was driving a '97 Camaro Z-28? Yeah, Camaros of that year are good at exactly one thing: driving very fast in very straight lines. Corners? Yeah, not so much. I realize I'm in trouble and I'm coming into the turn WAY too fast. I grab the shifter and get ready. My plan is that I'm going to slam it into first, let the rev limiter do its thing to save the engine, pull the e-brake and swing the tail, then punch it and swing the ass-end around and launch out of the curve with smoking Z-rated tires and all!

And HERE WE GO -- grab the shifter, yank it all the way down and...

That's when California emissions standards fucked me.

You see, when you buy a Camaro Z-28 in California, you don't actually get first gear. You get what's called a California First, which is actually SECOND gear, because if you were actually able to use FIRST gear, the goddamn car would belch enough emissions to make a farting Brontosaurus blush. And second gear ain't exactly gonna work for my little plan.

tl;dr is that I hit the no-lock brakes hard enough to get my speed down and was able to bring the ass around with the little e-brake trick. I wasn't out of the woods because I over-corrected on the way out and spun. The same God that I spite and don't believe in actually saved my ass and I didn't end up going off the road. Apparently, he loves fools and Z-28 Camaros.

I honestly had more fun in that car than the law allows: sometimes literally, like when I got clocked at 110 coming onto the straight at King City. Good times, man, good times.

seeing the discussion between bob and newt reminds me of this george will observation about d.j. dimwit's tweeting...

"He has an advantage on me, he can say everything he knows about any subject in 140 characters, and I can't."

b.k.'s "..a distant fear that never occurred." was a sign to stop. akin to "road out ahead". but being adventurous, forged ahead to see how big the gap was.

give this one to newt. there was a gully washer in bob's neck o' woods

here's an insightful observation...

One good phrase or political catchword is worth more to him than cartloads of dry exposition and theory. A catchword gives the unthinking mob not only the material for an idea, but also furnishes them with the pleasant illusion that they are thinking themselves.

source material: https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP78-02646R000100030002-2.pdf

It's media being targeted (far from the first time) by one faction of the government, police, under supervision of the military (national guard) after being under siege from one 1/2 branches for 3+ years, the executive and 1/2 the legislative.
Fortunately the right wing doesn't control the entire government or they would be in their underwear in a wood 100 miles away and their equipment (not to mention their passports) would be gone. And they would never dare mention the incident.
If Trump wins in November, guaranteed that's where we're going, state media only, police as a club against political enemies, constant military control under constant emergency declarations, cancellation of elections, and a long hard slide into dictatorship.

Make being a police officer special circumstances instead of a shield from prosecution and the trend will reverse the day the first cop gets the death penalty.

This is not media being targeted by the government.
This is just a badly trained or commanded police force.
If this was the KGB they would be in their underwear in a wood 100 miles away and their equipment (not to mention their passports) would be gone. And they would never dare mention the incident.

This is democracy led by none other than the super intelligent and highly eloquent whatshisname whose solution to this situation is that more people need to be shot ASAP. The only hope is that the current administration is too incompetent to turn this into an outright military coup. But who knows?

Police reform? Gun laws? Stop putting people in jail based on race? Desegregate schools? Nah...

Safe playgrounds are the reason why my friends and I would walk on railroad tracks and railroad bridges, build tree houses, get lost in the woods, play with matches and kiss girls.

When did you become a welfare queen like that? Like I'm just wondering what made you change your mind that you said "that's it im going to start being on welfare."

I thought you hated stuff like that, i still haven't gotten my check, but I believe in good government policy that uses socialized programs to help people in times of need. I thought you would be living in the woods or on Walden pond or something by now.

Instead you became a welfare queen. I never would have thought you were a welfare queen but I guess tha'ts the way of it.


WELL I'll look forward to you NOT giving people a hard time for taking needed help in the form of government handouts in the future since you're a welfare queen now too.

With ya. Was trying to figure if they were stacking the bodies like cord-wood or where they head to feet. Odd comparison. Now, by mass... that'd be interesting.

yup, if you are in the woods being stalked by wolves.... french kiss them *howtoo

I really love when engineering/science and art intersect.Some of those were ridiculously cool *promote

You can check out all his past and current work here ...
http://www.woodthatworks.com/wood-that-works-2010-2019

Sorry for your loss. Give it another try and see if you can spot the nice looking babe in the video. I did and I got wood.

There is a big difference between Wood and Woods.