My favorite part is when they say that if I'm not satisfied that it works exactly like I've seen in this commercial, I can just put it back in the box and send it back. I'm glad they said that, because I'm sure that as soon as I realized I still couldn't play golf or lift a handweight, I probably would have just stuck a stamp to it and put it in the mailbox.

What an awesome teacher, what awesome life lessons, not shying away from the important things about life, death, friends, bullying, appropriate punishment.

Just wonderful. You can but hope for a teacher like this for your children. You can do all you can to make it so, choose the best school possible, try to get them into the classes with the best teachers. But in the end there's so, so, so few teachers like this.

I had a pretty awesome grade 6 teacher that had a letter writing thing where we posted letters to him in a classroom mailbox and he responded to them all. To this day I remember his response to one of mine where me, as an 11 year old, was saying how angry I was that our new car was being delayed in delivery for a few days. Utterly ridiculous outrage for such a small thing. He put it all in perspective, and being that I'm pretty darn good at putting things in perspective now, and that I still remember that letter, I think that it had a huge effect on me.

Just little things like that, things that are fleeting, can make such a huge impact on who you are as a person, how you face the world for the rest of your life.

These kids are becoming so much more compassionate people from this, it is enough to choke you up, really is.

I have rather "fond" memories of walking at a 45deg angle attempting to get to the mailbox down the street on my way to school after boot camp in Great Lakes. I have firmly resolved to never go near the place again.

Thanks probie for hooking that up. I would love to promote a video of yours, but it seems you don't have any. Anyway, I have a power point at your disposal. Just let me know what to do with it.

In reply to this comment by probie:
Just click through to YouTube, it's right there:

The movie starts, "Sweet Emotion"'s playing in the background,
kids are smoking weed with Slater, man he's such a class clown,
all the cars are full of beer, Bacardi and liquor,
because tonight there is a giant house party at Pickford's,
it's the last day of school, Slater is trippin,
Tony had a weird dream and tells Mike he should listen,
in his dream he had a naked girl her boobies were decent,
but then the naked body's head belonged to Abraham Lincoln, whoa,
Don gives Randal Pink a pledge sheet for football that says
he can't do drugs while Benny's making a paddle,
Jodi begs the guys to not hurt her brother Mitch Kramer
but they still plan to, damn they're such assholes,
they breaking it down, for the football coach, "You have to use a substance?
Randal Pink you better be giving yourself an attitude adjustment,"
so they drive up to the middle school to make a big announcement
Mitchy Mitchty Mitchy do not run don't think about it
Mitch asks the teacher if they can escape through the back
"50 going on a mission, 25 aint coming back,"
school is over but they're gettng chased like fuck it lets be out,
Carl's mom pulls out a gun "but miss there's ruffians about,"
("AIRRAID YOU FRESHMEN BITCHES!!!!")
they're smoking weed in Pickford's room,
the beer man brought the kegs too soon,
the party's canceled, ruining the plans that were in store,
cuz if you go to Pickford's house and knock his dad answers the door,
Hitch is at his game hes pitchin and hes terrified
oh holy shit he looks up in the bleachers and right theres the guys
they catch him and the bend him over beat him til his fanny's pink
now he can hardly walk and so he gets a ride from Randy Pink,
they pick him up later like he's a foolish little kid
"you got a joint?" "no i do not," "well it'd be cooler if you did"
alright alright alright, theres Wooderson hes such a crazy fool
they go to the emporium to meet some girls and play some pool
you leave the dance, you can't come back
but fuck it those kids didn't care
they wanna walk around a bit but Herschfelder was "gettin there"
now they're gettin chased and they get licked by O'Bannon
wee wee wee squeeal like a pig oh my god they cannot stand him
now they're breakin mailboxes with cans that's meant for trash
get a gun pulled on em fuck this old man Pickford hit the gas
they get revenge on Obannon,with hardy laughter dude scours,
Wooderson plotted a beerbust, awesome party at the moon tower!
president George Washington was not a homosapien
ain't you ever heard that song? the presidents were aliens
Mitch and Julie hit it off, theyre prolly gonna get it on,
the beer is flowin nicely then abruptly everything went wrong
smells like someone's smokin reefer! i'm the one thats smokin reefer,
push him, sucker punch him, oopsie daisies put him in the sleeper
dominant alpha male mothafucker you fuckin disgust me i hate your guts,
he's kickin his ass hes punchin and kickin and killin him til they break it up
god damn it, he's lucky that he's still alive,
stupid mothafucka had to ruin shit and kill the vibe,
the party's over, keg is tapped, it's get up in the car time
lets go smoke a joint right on the 50 fuckin yard line!
break down! giggling! party in the hot night!
mustve been too loud or something theres a fuckin cop light
cops are talkin shit like they can smell beer and smell smoke
randy floyd is gettin high well wait til i go tell coach!
coach comes, mad as hell, randy pink, let's speak,
ditch your loser friends right now and sign your freakin pledge sheet,
sorry coach i got a speech for you it goes like this,
ya see i might play football in the fall but nope i wont sign this, peace!
mitch and julie making out until the sun rise,
mama grabs him by the ear you'reo ff the hook this one time,
mitchell are you drunk right now? heck no mom,
happy end mitch kramer goes to sleep with headphones on>> ^eric3579:

A promote to the sifter who can track down the lyrics to this song.

Just click through to YouTube, it's right there:

The movie starts, "Sweet Emotion"'s playing in the background,
kids are smoking weed with Slater, man he's such a class clown,
all the cars are full of beer, Bacardi and liquor,
because tonight there is a giant house party at Pickford's,
it's the last day of school, Slater is trippin,
Tony had a weird dream and tells Mike he should listen,
in his dream he had a naked girl her boobies were decent,
but then the naked body's head belonged to Abraham Lincoln, whoa,
Don gives Randal Pink a pledge sheet for football that says
he can't do drugs while Benny's making a paddle,
Jodi begs the guys to not hurt her brother Mitch Kramer
but they still plan to, damn they're such assholes,
they breaking it down, for the football coach, "You have to use a substance?
Randal Pink you better be giving yourself an attitude adjustment,"
so they drive up to the middle school to make a big announcement
Mitchy Mitchty Mitchy do not run don't think about it
Mitch asks the teacher if they can escape through the back
"50 going on a mission, 25 aint coming back,"
school is over but they're gettng chased like fuck it lets be out,
Carl's mom pulls out a gun "but miss there's ruffians about,"
("AIRRAID YOU FRESHMEN BITCHES!!!!")
they're smoking weed in Pickford's room,
the beer man brought the kegs too soon,
the party's canceled, ruining the plans that were in store,
cuz if you go to Pickford's house and knock his dad answers the door,
Hitch is at his game hes pitchin and hes terrified
oh holy shit he looks up in the bleachers and right theres the guys
they catch him and the bend him over beat him til his fanny's pink
now he can hardly walk and so he gets a ride from Randy Pink,
they pick him up later like he's a foolish little kid
"you got a joint?" "no i do not," "well it'd be cooler if you did"
alright alright alright, theres Wooderson hes such a crazy fool
they go to the emporium to meet some girls and play some pool
you leave the dance, you can't come back
but fuck it those kids didn't care
they wanna walk around a bit but Herschfelder was "gettin there"
now they're gettin chased and they get licked by O'Bannon
wee wee wee squeeal like a pig oh my god they cannot stand him
now they're breakin mailboxes with cans that's meant for trash
get a gun pulled on em fuck this old man Pickford hit the gas
they get revenge on Obannon,with hardy laughter dude scours,
Wooderson plotted a beerbust, awesome party at the moon tower!
president George Washington was not a homosapien
ain't you ever heard that song? the presidents were aliens
Mitch and Julie hit it off, theyre prolly gonna get it on,
the beer is flowin nicely then abruptly everything went wrong
smells like someone's smokin reefer! i'm the one thats smokin reefer,
push him, sucker punch him, oopsie daisies put him in the sleeper
dominant alpha male mothafucker you fuckin disgust me i hate your guts,
he's kickin his ass hes punchin and kickin and killin him til they break it up
god damn it, he's lucky that he's still alive,
stupid mothafucka had to ruin shit and kill the vibe,
the party's over, keg is tapped, it's get up in the car time
lets go smoke a joint right on the 50 fuckin yard line!
break down! giggling! party in the hot night!
mustve been too loud or something theres a fuckin cop light
cops are talkin shit like they can smell beer and smell smoke
randy floyd is gettin high well wait til i go tell coach!
coach comes, mad as hell, randy pink, let's speak,
ditch your loser friends right now and sign your freakin pledge sheet,
sorry coach i got a speech for you it goes like this,
ya see i might play football in the fall but nope i wont sign this, peace!
mitch and julie making out until the sun rise,
mama grabs him by the ear you'reo ff the hook this one time,
mitchell are you drunk right now? heck no mom,
happy end mitch kramer goes to sleep with headphones on>> ^eric3579:

A promote to the sifter who can track down the lyrics to this song.

@VoodooV, not sure I understand why introducing competing currencies would "border on lunacy"? There are compelling arguments in favor of a value backed currency. And being a veteran I would disagree about the health care being "excellent". Adequate, certainly, but I still choose private doctors for all my health care needs.

And government does offer competitive pay. A lot of times better than the private sector. I'd prefer competitive services versus a 'one-size-fits-all' service offered by the government, to be honest. Choice is better than one option any day, and because the government is subsidized by tax dollars they can be unfairly competitive in any industry without having to worry about customer service or market cues.

The DMV and Post Office come to mind. I've never had a pleasant experience at the DMV, but it doesn't matter because I can't refuse to do business with them. And that goes for the US Post Office, because they've got a monopoly on first class mail. If I don't like that the postman bends and crams my mail into my mailbox like he has a personal vendetta against it, I have to suck it up because they're the only first class mail service.

The incindent you are thinking about was in Umeå in Sweden.
http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/1.2180448/stal-dator-men-lamnade-tillbaka-innehallet-pa-usb-minne

In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
I would think that many carjackers would do something similar - going from carthief to kidnapper or murderer is a big, big step. Thieves usually do it for easy money, extortion is hard money, murder is no money.

I read somewhere, where a university professor got his laptop stolen, the thief returned his files and data on a usb stick in the profs mailbox (but kept the laptop). Saved him a hell of a lot of work having to recreate it, and insurance pays for the laptop anyway, so that was a much smaller hassle. The point is criminals are still people, but usually desperate or weak-willed.

>> ^EMPIRE:

Couple of weeks ago, something similar happened here, except the robber had some sense of decency, and the mother was the idiot.
So this woman stops her car in front of the building she lives in, and leaves the car open, with the key in the ignition, and a 6 or 7 year old child and a toddler inside the car, to go up to the apartment and pick up some stuff.
Some guy comes along and steals the car, with both children still inside.
A few miles away, he stops in front of a pharmacy, and tells the older kid to take his sibling inside because their aunt is supposedly waiting for them inside.
The pharmacist obviously didn't knew who they were, so he took them to a police station.

I would think that many carjackers would do something similar - going from carthief to kidnapper or murderer is a big, big step. Thieves usually do it for easy money, extortion is hard money, murder is no money.

I read somewhere, where a university professor got his laptop stolen, the thief returned his files and data on a usb stick in the profs mailbox (but kept the laptop). Saved him a hell of a lot of work having to recreate it, and insurance pays for the laptop anyway, so that was a much smaller hassle. The point is criminals are still people, but usually desperate or weak-willed.

>> ^EMPIRE:

Couple of weeks ago, something similar happened here, except the robber had some sense of decency, and the mother was the idiot.
So this woman stops her car in front of the building she lives in, and leaves the car open, with the key in the ignition, and a 6 or 7 year old child and a toddler inside the car, to go up to the apartment and pick up some stuff.
Some guy comes along and steals the car, with both children still inside.
A few miles away, he stops in front of a pharmacy, and tells the older kid to take his sibling inside because their aunt is supposedly waiting for them inside.
The pharmacist obviously didn't knew who they were, so he took them to a police station.

First, I don't know the optimal market cost for driving on roads. No one does except the government because they run the monopoly on roads. And what do monopolies do? They increase prices.

Second, who said anything about an "incontrovertible law of nature that binds gasoline taxes to roads"? When the gasoline tax was proposed that's what it was said to be for. Of course government changed its mind and dumped all that money into a general fund, but that's what it was designed for: to pay for roads.

Imagine how many people drive on the roads every day. Do the numbers. That's a helluva lotta revenue. Surely that could cover costs of laying asphalt. That aside, the roads out here are crap by and large. Potholes everywhere. It must be that the billions the government receives isn't enough. Go figure.

Ever occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, some of that money is being siphoned off or spent inefficiently or spent on inflated costs or used to pay inflated salaries or any number of other things than efficiently on the maintenance of roads?

Lastly, I don't think I should have to start an advocacy group to lessen the tax or fines levied against me. And these are hardly services. Services indicate something I voluntarily signed up for and can quit at any time. This is compulsory. It's like complaining to the mob that the protection money you're paying them isn't being put to good use.

Though I have complained. Plenty and often about loads of gov't services. Mail for instance. I keep getting torn and smashed mail. If an item is marked "do not bend" it comes bent and stuffed in my mailbox. They have a monopoly on first class mail so I have to use them. I've written my congressmen and local representatives about various things and always get back a cookie cutter response. Nothing is ever done. And my only recourse is voting? Bah.

Not sure what the pet cruelty laws are like in the UK, which this seems to be where this is taking place at. But in the states if some woman had done this and the cat ended up being crushed to death in a garbage truck....she really wouldn't be looking at much. A bit of a fine maybe a mark on her record....cost of a replacement cat + vet bills. Which is what pisses me off the most when I see these videos, knowing that people do stuff a lot worse than this to animals and get off with a fine and a mark on their record.

A few of the more recent things that have been on the news are the people starving their horses, a couple who went on a couple week vacation and left an insane amount of animals left locked in the house and they all had to be put down because of the conditions they were in.

Breaking the window out of your house to enter is a more serious crime than killing your dog on the way to the window.

I understand wanting to have pets and you having to have reasonable protection put in place to keep your pets from hurting people. It's just there's nothing on the flip side of that to protect your pets from people hurting them. It puts a pretty big burden on pet owners while giving the animal about the same status as an outside light. Your mailbox on the other hand has some federal protections.

>> ^Morganth:

Had to mute it from all the obnoxious heavy breathing - as if she ran all the way from the mailbox.


Heavy breathing...marveling at its size...it's deja vu all over again.

>> ^Morganth:

Had to mute it from all the obnoxious heavy breathing - as if she ran all the way from the mailbox.


I was aroused.

Had to mute it from all the obnoxious heavy breathing - as if she ran all the way from the mailbox.

I was hoping I'd be able to get the ball rolling on the "man with no arms and no legs jokes", but oh well.

What do you call a man with no arms and no legs...
...on a doorstep?
Matt
...in a crock pot?
Stu
...in a hole?
Phil
...in the ocean?
Bob
...in a mailbox?
Bill
...in a woman's dresser?
Teddy
...on a BBQ grill?
Frank
...hanging on the wall?
Art
...water skiing?
Skip

I'm not sure why outgoing emails would be affected by a DNS change...but links I email thru the sift are definitely not arriving at the recipients' mailboxes. Last test was about 3 hours ago, and like every other such attempt since the upgrade, nothing has actually arrived.

Definitely not an emergency, but that's a really handy feature I use regularly.

That said, emails about comments and such are making it to -my- mailbox. So it's not a general email problem.