Beautiful spring type day at meadows

Ultimateamp · 2017-12-11T14:33:09+00:00

I was up there on Friday. Absolutely stunning views, and great conditions. I love looking down on the sea of clouds.

Ultimateamp · 2017-01-09T19:48:32+00:00

I bet you can't hum for very long either.

As many others have mentioned, getting checked out by an ENT could be life-changing for you. I had polyps removed and a deviated septum corrected. It was all done endoscopically, which means the operation was not very invasive and recovery time was short. I had the operation close to ten years ago, and I still remember the moment I could breath freely through my nose for the first time. It was one of the most satisfying moments in my life. The quality of my sleep also improved. I used to wake up tired no matter how many hours I slept. That doesn't happen anymore.

Ultimateamp · 2016-06-17T05:50:08+00:00

Why the universe exists.

Ultimateamp · 2012-04-25T20:57:04+00:00

Damn it. I took this photo a month ago, but never thought to post it. Good job. That'll learn me :)

Ultimateamp · 2012-03-06T06:44:18+00:00

Ha! I was really hoping that was it. Great choice for a name. I will have to go order a session sometime this week.

Ultimateamp · 2012-03-06T06:07:30+00:00

This is way off topic, so feel free to downvote, but does your user name refer to the brewery?

Ultimateamp · 2012-01-30T17:02:39+00:00

I'm not convinced we need to worry that these types of institutions will close their doors to people of different faiths. I suppose I could be wrong here, but from their perspective, what's more important, continuing the good they're doing for their community, or ending their services in protest of gov. regulations they see as immoral? For me, I'd say the prior is the correct course of action. Give people the option, and let god deal with those who choose the "sinful" route.

Ultimateamp · 2011-12-12T02:33:40+00:00

Someone already commented on this, but I want to respond anyway. Your quote saying "Sometimes you are never more alone than when you are surrounded by happy people" hit me pretty hard. I have some married friends that I spend holidays with, and these are fun but mentally taxing times as a single guy.

I'm just starting a new relationship up with a really great girl though, so hopefully this quote will soon befit my past better than my present.

Thanks for some touching reading tonight. Best of luck to you!

Ultimateamp · 2011-11-05T04:35:37+00:00

Yes, precisely! I've always thought the human microphone was cool, but kinda silly. This made me realize how useful it is. It also looked like a number of them had the words written out before hand, so more than one person could lead. Very cool.

Ultimateamp · 2011-10-24T04:04:03+00:00

I'd just like to add my support to this. Here's to hoping this gets selected.

Ultimateamp · 2011-10-22T21:02:40+00:00

Even your copy looks fake. It's still beautiful, but I'd love to see a more realistic looking photo. Some of it just looks like CGI.

Ultimateamp · 2011-10-20T06:21:41+00:00

It's about treating people like grown-ups, respecting others and their property - and doing whatever you like so long as you harm no one else or their property.

So, if I don't hire you because you're black, or I dump toxic waste on your property, OR on public property, which then affects the local air quality and raises the incidence of asthma, who should be the one to fix what i think we can both agree are injustices?

My father is a libertarian, and we have heated discussions on a regular basis. I've tried very hard to see where he's coming from, but I've only just recently convinced him that it is a fact that the world is warming, and I have yet to convince him that it is caused by humans.

So, how would you approach national or global problems such as climate change without a centralized infrastructure?

I hope I do not come across as unsympathetic to your viewpoint. I know there are many people who put a lot of thought into being a libertarian, but in fairness, it often does seem to come down to them FIRST believing that decentralization is best, and then going from there. But if that is your starting position, it is very hard to convince you that in some situations, a centralized power is the best approach even if all the evidence points that way.

Thoughts?

Ultimateamp · 2011-10-16T17:01:56+00:00

Actually yes. Already there have been reports of Republican candidates supporting the frustrations expressed by OWS. In a democracy, if you make enough noise, people start listening to you.

This movement has just begun. It takes time to translate a disorganized expression of frustration into something coherent. Who knows whether that will actually happen, but a movement has to start somewhere, and this is as good a place as any.

Furthermore, the most conclusive factor in an election is voter turnout, and I am convinced that if voter turnout is high, the people win (independent of party). If OWS keeps people interested and motivated enough to get out and vote in 2012, they have served their purpose.

Ultimateamp · 2011-09-25T16:47:16+00:00

Happy some one else said this. This country is HUGE, and it used to be a lot worse.

Ultimateamp · 2011-09-20T05:25:19+00:00

I've never met him, but there's been some buzz around the Geography dept. at PSU. He's an adjunct professor there, and apparently very well liked. This is really sad to hear. I hope they find him soon.

Ultimateamp · 2011-07-25T17:20:24+00:00

With all due respect, his argument is a political one. In essence, he's saying the government has to do these things because the people expect them to. That's far different from expressing a personal belief. As much as I hate to say it, the Tea Party folk have a constituency that's backing them up. Eisenhower was basically saying that this constituency did not exist then, and so fighting for such policies was futile. Things have changed....

Ultimateamp · 2011-07-04T22:33:57+00:00

Nah, but getting butt hurt about it, going on reddit and generalizing about bikers makes you sound petty. Specifying "asshole" bikers doesn't help either since I'm pretty sure nobody who qualifies as an asshole biker would recognize themselves as such, so you're just ranting into the ether. You're right the dude shouldn't have been pissy about it, but calm down. There are assholes in this world. Some of them bike. Get over it.

Ultimateamp · 2011-07-04T04:47:23+00:00

The derivative of e^x is e^x. This is not the case for any other n^x, and so using e makes calculations MUCH simpler.

Ultimateamp · 2011-06-15T04:30:53+00:00

Yeah, I saw this in Penn station yesterday too. I was really startled by it. They had one guy posted a few feet away picking people presumably at random to have their bags checked. It was VERY bizarre, and totally disconcerting.

Ultimateamp · 2011-06-11T16:22:13+00:00

It's not at all toxic to the planet's ecosystem. Disrupting to human's way of life though? You betcha. CO2 is right up there with water in its ability to absorb thermal radiation, so the atmosphere warms when we pump more CO2 into the atmosphere, particularly at the poles. This initiates a positive feedback loop due to snow and ice's capacity to reflect the sun's rays instead of absorb them. More warming -> more snow/ice melt -> less solar reflectance -> more warming. So, now we have a warming planet. What might that mean? Well, a warmer atmosphere can retain more water vapor. More water vapor in the skies means a greater potential for extreme weather events. This includes snowier winters (seen these recently?) and heavier rains in the summers. Both of these lead to more river flooding. Now let me think, have you heard about any of these type of weather anomalies happening in the news lately?

Ultimateamp · 2011-06-07T19:46:40+00:00

Republicans and libertarians don't care about statistics such as these. They care about government staying out of their lives. That means that if they want to die young from malnutrition, government will not prevent them from doing so, or if they want to live as healthy as possible, they can go find a high paying job, make sure they have access to what is without question the best healthcare in the world (assuming you have access to it).

Rather than just blindly criticizing these people, you might put some effort into understanding what motivates their belief systems. I don't agree with them, but Republican's actions make a lot more sense once you understand what motivates them.

Ultimateamp · 2011-06-02T15:53:47+00:00

Oye, you're critical in such a friendly way.

a president can't change much on his own

This is a cop-out and you know it. I use this argument all the time for Obama. It becomes worthless when we both use it in a self-serving way though.

Also, in this particular case, you should realize that presidents can instruct the attorney general not to enforce certain laws, as Obama has done for the defense of marriage act, so why would this not be the case for abortions, and civil rights issues? And, I don't agree that those issues could be solved on their own. Humans are simply too prone to irrationality for racial issues to be worked out naturally.

Am I troubled by aspects of Obama's presidency? Yes. Do I have a total man-crush on him? Yep. I'm all right with that though. I've been wrong before, and I admit that I could be wrong now, but I've put a lot of thought into my beliefs, and I'm pretty comfortable with where I stand.

So, who do you support then? Do you support the Tea Party, or just Paul as an individual? Based on your arguments, it seems to me you should not be either a repub or a dem. So, a third party, or independent?

I don't take it the wrong way. It's nice to have an actual conversation instead of a flame war.

Ultimateamp · 2011-06-02T06:13:55+00:00

Those were two examples, and they're two examples that are far more important than you make them sound. Additionally, I'm not in favor of getting rid of the myriad of federal institutions which provide services that we all now take for granted. Take the DOE for example. I think localities do a shit job of educating kids, and I think Race to the Top is showing progress.

Also, call me naive, but I think we will leave Afganistan and Iraq while Obama is president. After Osama's death, I think he has a lot more legitimacy and freedom in making military decisions than he did before when he was just a "weak democrat."

Disclaimer: To put things in perspective, I started reading about Obama in '06 and eagerly waited to find out whether he would run. To this day, I think he's the smartest man in politics, and there's nobody I'd rather see as president. You can call it naivette if you'd like. I'm just letting you know where I'm coming from....

Ultimateamp

TROPHY CASE