sigh...not to be, fair lady...I just LEFT California (Sacramento area) and know the high desert area well....alas, even you could not drag me back to there....grin...tell yer hubby I said he's a lucky man!

>>>>>'ve never felt a tingle when touching my tongue to a 9 volt. Is that bad?<<<<<<

Oh, you poor thing...your body's electrolytes are in obvious disarray. It just so happens that I have a few spare 9-volts, and (purely in the interest of human health, you understand), I will be happy to donate my time and energy (no pun intended), to putting you back on the path of personal enlightenment.

I would suggest a regimen of nightly visits (this program works best just prior to sleep), where I will slowly (slowly is better for this) introduce you to your electrolytic balance. A word of caution, however...I am not a licensed electrolytic technician, and have, on occasion, sent sparks that were totally unexpected. Curiously, none of my patients have complained about this, and a high ratio have asked for a repeat therapy the same evening.

Please let me know if I can give you a helping hand for your problem.

Defense Attorney:
Will you please state your age?

Little Old Lady:
I am 94 years old.

Defense Attorney:
Will you tell us, in your own words, what happened the night of April 1st?

Little Old Lady:
There I was, sitting there in my swing on my front porch on a warm spring evening, when a young man comes creeping up on the porch and sat down beside me.

Defense Attorney:
Did you know him?

Little Old Lady:
No, but he sure was friendly.

Defense Attorney:
What happened after he sat down?

Little Old Lady:
He started to rub my thigh.

Defense Attorney:
Did you stop him?

Little Old Lady:
No, I didn't stop him.

Defense Attorney:
Why not?

Little Old Lady:
It felt good. Nobody had done that since my Albert died some 30 years ago.

Defense Attorney:
What happened next?

Little Old Lady:
He began to rub my breasts.

Defense Attorney:
Did you stop him then?

Little Old Lady:
No, I did not stop him.

Defense Attorney:
Why not?

Little Old Lady:
His rubbing made me feel all alive and excited. I haven't felt that good in years!

Defense Attorney:
What happened next?

Little Old Lady:
Well, by then, I was feeling so 'spicy' that I just laid down and told him
'Take me, young man. Take me now!'

Defense Attorney:
Did he take you?

Little Old Lady:
Hell, no! He just yelled, 'April Fool!' And that's when I shot him, the little bastard

welcome, Smiley...and don't worry about the crazies on here...we, er <AHEM> THEY, tend to only show themselves on occasion...and they become obvious quickly.

I need to go now....the little people in my computer want to play with the internet, but they seldom cause too muc........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................<blip>

TASERED?...nah...however, there are many women, and some guys, who enjoy a mild electrical stimulus through "strategically placed" contacts (much like used for an EKG), powered by a small battery-pack (similar to the tingle you get when you touch your tongue to a 9-volt battery)

Of course, this is all hearsay, since I wouldn't know, personally...grin

There is an old Taoist saying that goes: "One drop of rain does not consider itself a flood."

A single, thoughtless statement, made by one to another, may not be abusive, in and of itself (the drop), but when a pattern of repetitive statements and/or "going back to the same well" occurs, then yes, abuse (the flood) exists, and it is usually two-fold. The abuser continues what he or she has found to give him or her control over another, and the abused self-inflicts more abuse by rationalizing why the "deserve" it or need to stay in such a situation.

Generally, if you had to ask the question that began this thread, then the answer is yes...and you knew it...which is why you asked all of us for validation of your inner feeling.

I can't speak to PA laws, but in CA, CP is not necessarily a stop to a driver license. I specialized in working with those who had less than perfect lives at my driving school; the d/Deaf, the physically impaired, etc. My ego is not so large as to think I am/was the only person willing to do that. Yes, they are out there, pennstate, it's just a challenge to find them

May I recommend some of the Virtual Reality sites, like Second Life, where your avatar becomes your seeker. In a VR world, there are no disabilities or handicaps, or social hurdles unless you WANT there it be. I used to have an island there called Cape Able, which catered to just such problematics as you described. While I am no longer involved with Second Life, I think you may find it useful and interesting.

Good luck with your search...and keep looking. Remember, you ALWAYS find what you are looking for, in the LAST place you looked...keep going, gal!

As a Florida retiree, with bills to pay, medical costs, car insurance, home insurance....all of which are some of the highest rates in the nation...I'm getting real tired of you referring to my friends and social peers as "they", as if we are a separate entity from other tax-paying, and social contributing humans in Florida. And by the way, as "retirees" we mostly DO have benefits...which we have paid into for years, such as Medicaid and SS...get informed.

"It's better to be thought of as a fool, than to open your mouth and remove any doubt"

Your post is wrong on so many levels...the biggest level being your misinformed opinions. Like many others, I am actively seeking work because I have a sense of pride about being able to take care of myself, not existing on a public dole or on my Social Security (which, by the way, I EARNED by years of working).

And who decides that one person is more needy than another when it comes to a job? While I try to avoid direct attacks on a poster, your comment "why wouldn't they be considerate and allow people who really need that job more than they do ,have it?" strikes me of a whiner: Mommy, they have one, why can't I have one too? Make them give me one. Make them share.

>>>The time and dedication taken to write the book of events recorded in the bible, was of itself, an attempt at providing something SOLID for people to study and try to understand. If BLIND FAITH was all that was needed, simple verbal history would be all that would be required,each generation could simply say to the next,,,HE existed, believe it, end of story.

The bible gives us plenty of information to consume.<<<

I have been with you most of the way, Msharmony, but here we deviate. The "time and dedication" was done by Church Councils, such as the infamous Nicean Council during the early part of the 1st millennium. The "church" decided that the Scriptures, as then existed, held too many contradictions, and elicited more questions than answers; thus it was decided by the these councils on which Scriptural passages to keep, which to redact, and which to edit.

The stated purpose was to make the Scriptures more "learn-able and understood" by the common, illiterate, and mass population of the time. Further edicts, both Papal and Council. constantly changed, erased, and edited these Scriptural passages until they resembled more of the various "Bibles" that we are familiar with today.

In short, the Church, its' Councils, and other well-meaning personages "decided" what we should know. To believe that the Biblical texts are "God-given, and thus inviolable" is to ignore the Church's own history and literature.

If you think English, or Russian, is difficult, try explaining the noun/verb pairs you listed to the deaf via sign language. If you read the noun/verb pairs out loud, you'll soon realize that when you inflect (accent) the FIRST syllable, it is generally a noun; example CONvict (a person sent to prison) versus conVICT (the action of sending him to prison).

Since inflection counts heavily in deducing the usage of a noun/verb pair, how will you explain it (them) to a deaf person? This is one of the problems I face when teaching the deaf to drive. Sign language uses "modifiers" to explain a concept (the sign for jail, followed by the sign for person = CONvict). To know this, the deaf person will watch the hands and facial expressions of the signer for such modifiers.

Trust me...that doesn't work when teaching the deaf to drive...I do NOT want them staring at me for signs, while driving. We have used a "pidgen-sign language" to use only one hand, held beneath the rear view mirror.

Of course, it COULD be more difficult...try explaining the color BLUE to someone who has been blind since birth!

A burglar broke into a house one night. Shining his flashlight around, he looked for any valuables, when a voice came from the dark, "Jesus is watching you!" He quickly flipped off his flashlight and froze in place.

After a moment or two of hearing nothing else, he proceeded to remove the stereo from the bookcase, when, again, the voice called out, "Jesus is watching you!"

Flashing his light frantically about the room, he saw a small parrot on a lamp. Sneering, he said to the parrot, "Did you just say that?" The parrot replied, "Yes, I was just trying to warn you of the error of your ways!"

Said the burglar, "And just who do you think you are to preach at me?"

Said the parrot, "My name is Moses!"

Said the burglar, "Hah! Who would name a parrot Moses?"

Said the parrot, "The same people who named the Rottweiler, Jesus!"

Man up, me boyo! There's an old saying: "Faint heart never won fair lady".

Methinks that by NOT pressing on to the question, you may have given HER the idea that you don't care enough to do the extra effort.

It's odd, about carpool lanes. This question came up more than once during my Driver Ed classes. The short answer would be "no", since the purpose of the carpool (HOV - High Occupancy Vehicles) lane was to accommodate more DRIVERS into a single vehicle, thus freeing up some of the congestion. And to the best of my knowledge, very few corpses retain their driving privileges!

HOWEVER - in most states, a pregnant woman, a motorcycle with only a driver, and the so-called "green" vehicles with only a driver, ARE eligible for the lane.

As my American Indian ancestors could tell you, they would become "animists", imbuing all of nature with spirits to be "revered" and paid homage to.

However...it DOES open some intriguing questions and/or debates:

1) If hardwired, are Agnostics and Atheists genetically deformed?

2) If hardwired, do Orientals (just as an example, no racist remark meant) carry a "Tao", "Shinto", or "Buddhist" genome that others don't?

3) If hardwired, would we not all be "addicted" to some religious dogma?

4) If hardwired, is there a companion genome for cruelty? Religious strife over the centuries (think Torquemada and the Inquisition, the practice of excommunication, the constant yammering of pain and suffering for those not joined to a particular religious group) would certainly indicate so!

5) If hardwired, would we even be HAVING this forum chat?