No, it hasn't happened to me. It isn't likely to, either, in this small town. I was on a site one time and saw one of my neighbors/coworkers, though. I didn't mention it to him. I thought that it was his own business, and if he didn't want to share, I wasn't going to bring it up. If I see someone on another site, though, then I may e-mail them and say "Didn't I see you on the other site?" But not face-to-face, and not to bring town gossip to a site or vice-versa.

Yeah! If we're going to dream, we should dream big.

I think the bigger question is, if you won the really big lottery, like $200,000,000 in Powerballor something similar, what woul you do with it?

OMG

Um, I've never seen a redneck in a tutu before. Is that like wearing a lampshade on your head at a party? will you remember it in the morning?

I don't think that it would have to be genetic to train plants to grow a certain way. But it would be a lot of wrok withvery slow returns.

no, there isn't. And I'd rather, in the long run, to be friends with someone and build on that for a relationship.

"It takes an entire village to raise a child." This is an African saying, but there have been various versions of it down through the ages from many different groups. It isn't just the parents who raise the children, but every adult with whom the children come in contact regularly. Yes, in a nuclear family situation, both parents arae the primary teachers/mentors to the children. but what about children who were brought up in other types of families and settings and still grew up to be happy, healthy, well-adjusted, productive adults? While I agree that it is the responsibility of the custodial caregivers to do their best to allow only positive influences around the children, by saying that a traditional nuclear family with Mom, Dad adn kids is the only effective way to rear children, we are getting into some potentially religion-based semantics and debates that would start a fire-storm more appropriate to the religious general chat section.

this was in reference to the blu-collar comedy guys.

ouch. Talk about your liquid assets going up in smoke!

In the lingo of a very redneck device

10-4

Oh, I'd like to meet with a couple of the guys here, but I would prefer to meet only guys who are relatively close to me (100 miles or so). If I really do meet someone that I eventually want to settle down with, I don't want to leave the upper midwest, nor do I think it's fair to expect someone to leave their home, family and friends to be with me.

Getting back to the original topic of the thread, the Amish are very fascinating and, surprisingly, diverse people. They have groups all over the world, adn not all of them drive buggies and wear a particular (out-dated) style of clothing. Some have electricity in their homes and phones. There is one group that is SO traditionalist that they will only dress in black (I've seen them in north-east Ohio, just above Andover) and others who wear bright blues, greens and purples. Their clergy are called bishops, and how a particular church group within the Amish community lives is decided by how the bishop interprets the Bible. They are very creative and ingenious people. My uncle has some of his mechanical stuff machined in an Amish shop where they use cables, converors, pulleys,pedals, etc, to do that work without any electricity or fossil fuels used. They have some of the most beautiful and well-kept homes in the areas where they have built communities, are awesome gardeners, carpenters, masons, seamstresses, and cooks.

There are so many Native American nations and tribes that it is hard to even know where to start. However, from what I've read and studied, the ones on the east coast were primarily peaceful at the time of the first settlers. They tended, for the most part, to have a philosophy of "we will accept you and teach you how to live off the land for your survival as long as you don't get violent with us. If that happens, then we will respond in kind." As you get further west, yuo find the more war-like tribes. (I think that Gene Roddenberry borrowed the phrase "it's a good day to die" for the Klingons from the Sioux, who were so war-like that they fought against each other.)There are exceptions to both of these analises, though. For instance, the Iriquois and other Lake Erie area peoples were quite war-like, until they realized that the futility of that constant violence would eventually destroy all of them. Also, from what I can see, the Arikara of the upper midwest would fight mostly in the name of self defense. Otherwise, they were peaceful farmers and true hunter/gatherers.

All in all, I think if people could bring themselves to respect everyone else's views, even if they don't agree with them, then this would be a much more peaceful world in which to live no matter what group you belong to.

I think it's a Chinese proverb that says something like "he who plots revenge digs also his own grave" or something like that.

yeah!

I don't know. I guess it would depend on how much time and emotion I had invested in the relationship. And the state of the relationship before he cheated.

The economy being what it is, I'd say the grocery store, or a garden center. $1000 isn't very much these days.

I think that a person has to be very careful adn responsible about sex. Wrap that rascal, get checked regularly, especially if you aren't monogamous, be honest with your partners, and respect the fact that they may not want to name names, or have their names mentioned.

So, how many of you know who's calling before you answer the phone? Or even before the phone rings?