Did a hydrocele patient yesterday. Should be a piece of cake (easy for me to say, right?), but you will be a little sore for a few days. The press tries to convince people anesthesia is "hovering between life and death" and all that other BS. Anesthesia is about 50 times safer now than it was 25 years ago. Your oxygen levels, blood pressure, electrocardiogram, and carbon dioxide (in your exhaled breath) are all monitored continuously. Your anesthesia provider has no task other than to watch you like a hawk. VERY, VERY safe when your overall health is good.

Wait, wait, wait. Easy now. This isn't the VHS vs. Beta war. This is a different beast altogether. HDDVD is solid, and Blu-Ray has some catching up to do, but it's hype that's making Blu-Ray seem like the winner in this march of tech. Currently, there are only two Blu-Ray players that are worth your money. That's the PS3 and their really high end machine (not sure what the nomenclature is for this machine or machines). HDDVD also has its worthless 720 and 1080i players available for the common market just as Sony does, but their 1080p higher end machines are very affordable. And every HDDVD player has a great price point compared to Blu Ray.

When Sony released its Blu-Ray technology, they put way too much money into developing that blue ray laser and high capacity disc so they didn't spend money on the codec. When released to market, HDDVD had a high-def codec and Sony was using MPEG-2. Yes, MPEG-2. The same shit you have on your standard def DVDs. Ouch! That technology is what? 20 years old? Because of bad press, they had to switch to a better codec, so imagine the spendthrift involved with that! Now, imagine how much less money they had on making their system actually good. So, what's the problem now? Well, aside from the shitty systems available, they also have update problems. You see, all of Toshiba's systems are supposed to have Ethernet capabilities, so updating the firmware is a piece of cake. Sony systems? Nope. You better be prepared to shill out some major doe for that added feature. So, there is a high chance that SOME of the Blu Ray DVDs will NOT play on some Blu Ray DVD players because they're incapable of updating their firmware. Ain't that a bitch? I hope Sony figures this out, but chances are they won't, and even if they do, that's more of a crippling blow to their chances to "corner the market" than you think.

But, if you have a PS3, you're sitting pretty (from my insider news). It's a better purchase than a straight Blu-Ray DVD Player purchase. That's just silly, no?

That aside, HDDVD isn't just Toshiba. It's Microsoft, too. Microsoft created the programming infrastructure called iHD, which I've programmed in, so if you ever step out to Best Buy and purchase yourself a copy of Under Siege, Blazing Saddles or Lethal Weapon in HDDVD format, then you'll be buying my handy work. I've worked on other WB titles, but those are the titles I programmed myself. What are you waiting for, fellow Sifters. Buy my shit! I make NO money off of them!

I'll point out first that any article from a website that is ALL FOR or ALL AGAINST -=anything=- is just not worth reading. I can pick and choose articles from legit scientific journals to add up to mean just about whatever I want. It simply requires NOT citing all the oppositional articles that are published. Piece of Cake. I would recommend avoiding all such sites en masse. What you really should do is use resources such as pubmed.com and other real scientific article sources to generate opinions on such topics. Sites that are ALL one way are so obviously agenda-driven that it is not worth listening to their opinions. And that goes for ALL such articles.

In my personal opinion on this particular question, my best wish is that people would get the fluoride they need by their own means... e.g. toothpaste or other such methods, so that fluoridating water is no longer even a decent option.

Added edit: 600 "professionals" is sadly an extremely small number. Especially when you see who are considered "professionals." With EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE of this sort of argument method, you can find a HUGE number of "professionals" who don't know crap about what they're reporting, or who have no real experience beyond hobby. They can call any crackpot MS or even Ph.D. an "expert" even if that MS or Ph.D. is in a totally unrelated topic.

Is it bad that I've only been here since march and I already know that choggie will inevitably post to start a fight? hehe /love

and I'm sure I could select another extremely small and selective picture of the collapse site to support any conclusion I want to support. One image is not representative of a MASSIVE collapse of 2 100+ floor towers. Nothing so large has ever collapsed or been destroyed, so there is no control to compare this event to in order to draw conclusions out of simple pictures of that sort.

First off, no, I'm not affiliated with these people at Purdue. I am a scientist, but I don't know these folks. I just thought they did good work and wanted to share it with you folks.

Second, of course the obvious conclusions that can be drawn from this are that it is perfectly reasonable for the towers to collapse by their own weight when you look of the structure of those floors that were hit. And no, if you look at the 2 collapses, they did not occur in the "same way." Note one collapsed first diagonally at the impact site and the other collapsed evenly. And answer this for me, if they were done by explosives, how the hell did they know exactly where the planes would hit the buildings so that they were able to start the "demolition" at that exact spot on both buildings (one evenly as the plane hit and one diagonally as the plane hit off center). You can argue till you're blue in the face that it was an inside job, but this and a HUGE and growing number of unbiased, scientific studies are supporting the conclusion that it was... as they admitted... Al Qaeda. I don't know a SINGLE scientist or engineer or physicist who thinks these buildings were demolished and i know crap-load of scientists, etc. srsly

and I think I (even) could fly a jet in to a building that big, and I'm saying this as the brother of a jet pilot. He says it's basically a piece of cake, so there goes that argument. and I love how people always call them box-cutters. lol. They have freaking razor blades on them, they can cut you better than even your average "knife." I guarantee that murder with a "box cutter" is a very easy thing. Fear teh boxcutterz.

Anyway Choggie, I have a link and a video you must see. I don't pretend to think that I'll ever be able to convert a "9/11-was-an-inside-job" person, but if you haven't seen this video, ya ought'a just so you can say you did if people ask. Ya gotta see all the evidence in order to be able to argue either way right? ...and honestly the video is kinda funny. I loled a few times I'll admit.

http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=-6243624912447824934

Maybe I'll submit this video if I ever get a first video through the queue in the fist place.

zomg long postage.

there is actually 1 piece of cake left in the fridge, krupo! ty again ... until next year folks!!

Translated lyrics from http://www.mognet.net/artisttranslation.php?id=1094&translation=english :

Fish Fight! Fish Fight! Fish Fight! Fish Fight!

I can live in a lake or wherever, I am a natural freshwater fish! I fight with my body
A Oh! A Oh! A Oh! A Oh! A Oh!

Bass fishing is a trend, carp fishing has begun and ended; children, remember this well!
A Oh! A Oh! A Oh! A Oh! A Oh!

It's alright if the cold rain gets your cheek wet, look down to the bottom and see
Dance dance dance dance with me! Let's swim!

A carp is a living thing, and you shouldn't eat it; unrefined and smelly fish! fish! fish!

You wash a crap, and then you eat it as sweetened boiled fish, and carp sushi

In times when you cry, those in the water don't understand; so cry with all your might
A Oh! A Oh! A Oh! A Oh! A Oh!

Even if the cold rain falls upon your heart, look down the bottom and see
Dance dance dance dance with me! Let's swim!

A carp is a living thing, and you shouldn't eat it; unrefined and smelly fish! fish! fish!

My brunch is young bees and earthworms; lure fishing, decoy fishing, they're uncalled for

Char, Bitterling,Surf Smelt,Mottled Shovel-Nosed Frog, Rainbow Trout, Black Bass, Millet, Snake Head Mullet, Chub, Trout
Haya, haya, haya! We are friends, the freshwater fish!

Flounder, Yellowtail Tuna, Parrot Fish, Ocean Sun Fish, Mackerel, Sea Robin, Red Snapper, Striped Jack, Alfonsino, Scorpion Fish
Eat, eat, eat! They are the major saltwater fish!

Someday I'll have a high-grade brother too: Tiger Globefish, fatty yellow-tail, it's a piece of cake! It's my turn to be scientifically dissected
The scales, the back fin, the bladder

A carp is a living thing, and you shouldn't eat it; unrefined and smelly fish! fish! fish!

You wash a crap, and then you eat it as sweetened boiled fish, and carp sushi (And pickle it!)

Someday I too will be revolving sushi; I want to revolve, I want to be seen, fish! fish! fish! (round and round)

Handrolled, battle ship rolled, winding, pinched; anything as you like it, you decide

Fish Fight! Fish Fight! Fish Fight! Fish Fight!

Piece a cake. How easy is it to turn oneself into a "bizarre, self-constructed, freak?

Damn, I grew up doing this-adrenaline and less walking...piece of cake.

translation (Hitler only):
"one two one two"
"a piece of cake, before I gas everyone"
"faster"
"Here you are, little girl"
"one two one two..."
(to jewish looking people:)"do you know who I am?"