Aggie87

Happy Birthday, Bruce!

You're welcome, but don't call me Angie.

Corpus Christi will be next. Then....my living room!

Heads up!! PT & Coheed and Cambria Dates PT is happy to announce that the band will be joining Coheed and Cambria to coheadline 12 dates in the US in August. Tickets are on sale to the general public this Friday, June 25th The band will also be headlining their own show at The Warfield in San Francisco on August 10th. ROABP info to be posted shortly. Aug 10th San Francisco, CA - The Warfield (PT only) Aug 12th Hollywood, CA – Hollywood Palladium Aug 13th Las Vegas, NV – The Joint Aug 14th San Diego, CA – 4th and B (21+) Aug 16th Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater Aug 17th El Paso, TX – Club 101 Aug 18th San Antonio, TX - Sunset Station Aug 20th Memphis, TN – Minglewood Hall Aug 21st Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium Aug 22nd Nashville, TN – War Memorial Auditorium Aug 23rd St Louis, MO - Pageant Aug 24th Grand Rapids, MI – Orbit Room Aug 26th Cleveland, OH – Nautica Pavilion Man....if this is still for The Incident, San Antonio could be my third show on this tour!

This would seem to be a major drawback for a sexually active woman. The woman can remove it from herself any time she likes - it would just be something to be used when she's concerned she'll be in a position of vulnerability, I think. So it wouldn't prevent her from having a sexually active lifestyle. I think they're saying it can only be removed from the male by a medical professional. Once it's on the male's johnson, he would have to go to a doctor to have it removed. Theoretically he's just assaulted someone, so the the doctor would report the dude to the police. I agree with some of the other comments above though - if it's only mildly painful, it's only going to enrage the rapist to start with, meaning probably more violence for the victim. And I can also envision women using the thing as some sort of retribution or something as well...not strictly as a defensive measure. I think it's a step in the right direction for sure though - maybe it can be further developed to be more debilitating. But I don't agree with the argument about it being "too punitive" for the rapist though - he's committing rape, for Christ's sake! I don't agree that it's further sexualizing women or artificially altering them or whatever, either. And there should definitely be consequences for any woman found using it for vengeance or whatever - that might constitute assault and battery or something, I dunno.

Interesting new idea for help in rape prosecution. Perhaps just the fact that it's out there could help prevent some rapes as well, if it catches on... Link South Africa Debuts Anti-Rape Female Condom CAPE TOWN, South Africa (June 21) -- Counseling a rape victim more than 40 years ago, Dr. Sonnet Ehlers got an idea for an anti-rape female condom that South Africa is now testing during the mostly male and sometimes raucous, alcohol-fueled celebrations for the World Cup. "It was in 1968 or 1969, and I was a young intern counseling a girl from one of South Africa's townships, who'd been raped. She said, 'If only I had teeth down there,'" Ehlers told AOL News. "And I thought, God, it would be great to make something that could really be useful." Ehlers, a 62-year-old physician, lab researcher and hematologist -- and a mother of two daughters -- spent the next four decades developing a female condom with jagged latex hooks that latch onto the skin of an attacker. Dubbed "Rape-aXe," the condom is inserted with an applicator like a tampon, and it clenches a man's penis and causes "immense discomfort" without drawing blood. It can only be removed by medical professionals, who are being familiarized with the device in order to contact South African police when they see one. "I'm not out for vengeance. It doesn't leave permanent damage to the penis, but there will be tiny little scars to remind him of what he's done -- something his wife or future wife might ask him about," Ehlers said. The new condom was patented in 2007, and Ehlers hopes to begin selling it in South African pharmacies and grocery stores soon. It's being evaluated by the country's Bureau of Standards and would sell for about $2.50. Meanwhile, Ehlers has distributed samples to 100 unnamed women across South Africa this week, for initial testing during the World Cup. South Africa has one of the world's highest crime rates outside war zones, with 50 murders and 140 rapes reported each day, though experts believe the real number of rapes could be many times higher. A 2009 survey by South Africa's Medical Research Council found that 28 percent of men admitted to having raped a woman, and 20 percent said they had done so in the past year. After that emotional meeting with a rape victim in the late 1960s, Ehlers describes how she began inventing the new condom by experimenting with a household item: the safety seal found on a soda bottle. "I was playing around with the plastic strip that tightens around the bottle's neck, running my fingers over it, and then I phoned Coca-Cola," Ehlers said. One of the company's engineers joined her team, which also includes gynecologists and psychologists who've interviewed rapists in South African prisons, she said. Critics of Ehlers' invention say it could be too punitive for the alleged rapist, and also worry that the device could lead to more violence against women, once a rapist realizes that he's been branded by the device. Some also say it's unfair to put the onus of halting rape on women rather than on the offenders themselves. "Women should not need to artificially alter our bodies to prevent rape," Erin Matson, a vice president of the National Organization for Women, told AOL News in an e-mail interview. "Preventing rape requires educating women and men. ... By putting the focus on women's own anatomy, this product seems to use rape -- a serious crime -- to sexualize women even further." A South African expert on gender-based violence, Lisa Vetten, said the device harks "back to the days where women were forced to wear chastity belts." "It is a terrifying thought that women are being made to adapt to rape by wearing these devices," Vetten, with South Africa's Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, said in a 2007 statement when Ehlers obtained her patent. "Women would have to wear this every minute of their lives on the off-chance that they would be raped." Ehlers advises women to wear the anti-rape condom when they're walking through dimly lit neighborhoods alone at night, or even on a blind date. It can be worn for 24 hours straight, she said. For years, Ehlers counseled rape victims and heard stories about how women tried to use makeshift devices similar to hers to protect themselves. She said one woman confessed to having embedded a razor blade into her contraceptive sponge, to hurt any man who might rape her. Ehlers said she wanted to develop a safe, medically approved device for women that wouldn't maim their rapists, either. "My critics say I've developed a medieval device, but I say it's a medieval device for a medieval deed," Ehlers told AOL News today in a phone interview from her office north of Cape Town. "I've had so many e-mails from women who've been raped, who say 'Now we feel armed,'" Ehlers said, referring to women who've heard about her invention. "We want to get T-shirts that say, 'Try me now.'"

Texas has turned down the Pac 10's offer, confirmed by the Pac 10 Commissioner (see Dallas News link). That almost assuredly means none of the other teams that were following Texas' lead will go anywhere. The focus now seems to be on reenergizing the Big12 in its present 10 team form. A&M still seems to be weighing options between staying and moving to the SEC (though the article in that link is inconsistent - says at one point A&M is considering the SEC, and later says the $ to stay in the Big 12 were enough to convince A&M to stay).

Latest today is that the remaining 10 schools in the Big 12 are working to salvage the Big 12. The Big 12 Commissioner has promised the schools $17M apiece in television revenue, plus the ability to start their own individual television networks (or something). For a school like UT, this may make them as much as they would make if they jump to the Pac 10. I think A&M's third choice is to go to the Pac 10. Their top choice is either to move to the SEC or stick with the Big 12 (or whatever it ends up being called), but it's hard to tell which way they'll go. I think their decision - at this point - makes or breaks the Big 12.

Can we still use this thread to tell you where you can go?

It's not just talk - the SEC Commissioner was in College Station wooing the Aggies yesterday. All the reports I've read have the Aggies torn (very torn - supposedly there's a razor thin margin of votes leaning one way or the other within the A&M Board of Regents) between moving to the PAC 10 and the SEC. The PAC 10 Commissioner has also been in College Station this weekend - in addition to hitting the other "desirable" Big 12 South schools (Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Okie State). I'm sort of torn myself - there's alot of history and tradition between A&M and Texas - hell, even our fight song is essentially about our hate for the Longhorns), and would like to see that maintained on into the future, with conference implications (read - we should move with UT to the PAC 10). On the other hand, we've always been in Texas' shadow, save for a brief period in the 80's and 90's where we really dominated them in football. Moving on to the SEC would allow us to chart our own course, out of their shadow. It would be a tougher challenge, football-wise, moving to the SEC, but I think it may be the better choice. This *IS* all about football, not the other sports. That's why Kansas, despite being a powerhouse basketball program, isn't being pursued by either the PAC 10 or the SEC, but probably the Mountain West.

Happy Birthday, Kevin!

Colorado officially announced they're moving to the Pac 10 (or whatever it will be called next). That means Nebraska has to have pretty much committed to the Big 10. That means TX, A&M, Tech are likely to follow to the Pac 10 for sure now. Unless A&M somehow ends up in the SEC, which they've looked at before. The TX/A&M rivalry needs to continue though, so my money's on them following alongside TX. I liked the Big 12 after getting used to it. If they had just renegotiated the tv revenue, none of this may have ever happened.

Happy Birthday Bertrand!

Haven't heard Fiuczynski's name in a while. Nice to see he's still around doing his thing.

Not sure I agree that Hans was unjust. He's doing what he believes is right, based on the rules as he understands them. He's also doing a volunteer job - not sure any of the rest of us could do better. To criticize a volunteer isn't very cool - it would be like criticizing my son's volunteer little league baseball coach. I.E., if you can do better, step on up and give it a try. And I don't think that was your only recourse - going to Jim would have been much more appropriate, only after you and Hans weren't able to reach an understanding.

Well now it seems there's more information than what was originally posted (and I responded to). I agree in principle that threads in the Offering forum aren't the place to tell a seller his prices are off (so in principle I agree with Hans' point), but I also don't really care for board "members" who are only here to advertise their eBay auctions - they really aren't part of this community. Zzzzzoltan is that kinda board "member". edit - I think this all should have been handled via PM conversation with Hans, and if you still didn't agree with his logic, perhaps a PM convo with Jim. No need to share private conversations like this...

I think people are free to ask whatever they want for a cd. If you think their prices are out of line, that should be in a PM, IMO. Suggesting their prices are high (or giving examples of the item cheaper elsewhere) only hurts the seller. I think this has been a long standing board policy, to the best of my knowledge. And sharing the details of a private conversation without the agreement of the other party is in equally bad taste, IMO.

Happy Birthday!

May she rest in peace, Ray.

Not sure where to really put this, but I just read that Mick Karn (from Japan/Rain Tree Crow) has recently been diagnosed with advanced stages of cancer. There's a page on Facebook (here) for Mick that offers the ability to leave messages (or donate money if you are so inclined) for Mick. In addition to Japan and his solo material, Mick's recorded with Gary Numan, Kate Bush, Mark Isham, David Torn, No-Man, and others.

I'm all for the instant replay being expanded, with two challenges per game allowed each team. I don't think this will downgrade the quality of the game, or the time it takes to complete a game. Dan - would you honestly still feel so strongly about this had this been the Red Sox on the "getting screwed" end of things, instead of the Tigers?

Wish I could make this get together! I have something going on Saturday afternoon here, or I might have made the drive up. Give me a bit more advance notice, and I'll try next time!

I actually agree with Chris. His ethnicity doesn't really seem relevant to your point.

Happy Birthday!!