john doe

From the 'site rules' link at the top of this page:

It needs to be remembered that the people on these shows make a pretty good appearance fee for being on the shows. In some cases I would imagine that the appearance fees could be more than what they make in their shown occupation. So how do they stay in business? Well, in the case of the pickers, my guess is that the girl that stays behind in the shop and tells them where to go and who to see, is also their main salesperson. She is constantly mining the internet for people looking for certain things and types of things, and the guys on the show are the ones finding the stuff for her to sell. She is the one who sells what they get, and they seem to do okay with what they do. The pickers are also careful to buy stuff that they know they can make a profit on. They rarely buy stuff to keep for themselves. And they rarely buy for more than half of retail. My wife knows someone who went to the Pawn Stars store, and the report is that what they show the store looking like in the show is not reality. What I was told is that it's no different than any other normal everyday pawn shop in America. I think the show does a lot of 'dress up' to make it look better. Most people know that the money in pawn shops is not primarily made on what they sell, but on the loans made against the pawns. They're basically legal loan sharks. As for the storage auction guys, the show states right at the beginning of the show that the stuff they find and show on the episode is not typical of reality. They state that 80% of the time they lose money on buying storage units. They are just showing you the ones where they cashed in big. It takes a lot of money, time and patience before they finally find a unit that pays off. The one show where they follow 4-5 guys through the process is more real than the one where the two guys always seem to be hitting the jackpot. I'm sure storage unit places like the show because everybody thinks they are going to buy someone else's treasure, but in reality, how many of us are actually putting hugely expensive stuff in storage units, as opposed to asking a good friend or family member to store it in a safe place in their home?

I'm not defending him. I'm also not sure that anyone can really know what is in a person's heart based on a second-hand report of what they said. But based on the article, he knows his crowds, and the general type of people who generally attend rodeos in Utah County. As an announcer he probably says a lot of things that upon reflection he would like to take back. We all do, don't we?

Would you mind expanding on this statement? I'd really like to know what you mean by it.

Really? I can think of several situations where a person might say something just to play to a crowd. Politicians come to mind first. Amazing that you 'know' what is in this guy's heart based on hearsay and not actually being there.

Yes, and I'm not the only one who wishes you would wear a bathrobe.

I think PC may be onto something with his idea. We as a nation need to come up with a sensible plan to accommodate those who wish to come here legally. And we need to accommodate them in large numbers, at least to start with. One of my biggest issues with illegal immigrants is that they are using our infrastructure without paying any taxes to help support that infrastructure. We need to figure out a way to make those who are using the system help pay for it. One possible way to deal with that problem is to entirely change our taxing system and switch from an income tax to a use tax. But realistically, that is probably wouldn't happen unless we had a complete collapse of the current system. I don't see that happening anytime soon. So we need to turn illegals into taxpayers. How do we do this? First, we need to find a way to push the immigration policies and procedures to make it easier to make those who want to be here to work into legal workers who have tax numbers and do it in such a way that employers will have incentives to not hire anyone who does not have a tax number. Guest worker cards embedded with security measures and fingerprints could be issued and given to each immigrant who come here looking for work. Fraud would be vigorously prosecuted, with severe sanctions for fraud. No one works without their unique guest worker number, and all numbers would be routinely run through a national database to track and check for irregularities. Guest workers would pay into SSI but would not be eligible for any benefits for 10 years with certain work requirements, and a lower payout schedule than citizens and permanent residents. Any true attempt at turning illegals into legal workers will necessarily make the costs of goods they aid in producing go up. That's just a natural byproduct of doing that, and we need to face that fact. We won't like it, but if they are going to be paying taxes into the system, their employers will be raising prices to cover those costs. And those are just my off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts on the issue. I could be totally nuts, or I change my mind tomorrow.

He indeed does have the right in America to say what he did. He also has the responsibility to stand chastened when what he says does not reflect the values of the community or the company he represents. The best way to deal with situations like this is to vote with your dollar- If you don't like the things the guy is saying, don't give your money to the company he represents. When they start to lose money over what he says, either he will change or they will replace him.

Yep, you're right.

If you don't know, then I can't explain it. But, as the famous saying goes, I know it when I see it.

Well, maybe you sawed her, but I never seen her there. But it don't make no never mind to me.

You have no idea how often editing of posts occurs now. We don't just nuke threads willy-nilly. We don't currently have the ability to ban certain people from certain threads, although I can see its usefulness in some situations. And if the other kids standing around the fire don't take any action to stop the kids from sticking their hands in the fire, then aren't you technically saying it's okay for them to do it? One reason we put out the whole campfire is because everybody else around the fire is standing around watching them do it and not taking any action to make them stop. And others are encouraging them to stand right in the middle of the fire just to see what happens. What do you expect us to do when you aren't doing anything to help the situation?

My main issue with ancient threads is that many times responses or questions are aimed at people who are no longer members of the site or who have not logged on in a very long while. And if it is over 6 months ago, I'm old enough that I have to jog my brain about what I was thinking about at the time the thread was active to form a cogent answer to a post asking questions. I'd rather post and live in the here and now.

Let's just remember that the same rules apply in the Open Forum as the rest of the site, but it is reserved for more adult-type topics. As I have not weighed in on the topic yet, I will take the time to do so now. People complain sometimes that this site does not allow more back-and-forth debate, with slings and arrows tossed around, and discussions of whether the LDS Church's positions are right or wrong. There's a good reason for that. This site does not exist for the purposes of debating the truthfulness of the LDS Church, or whether its leaders are leading the Church the way Christ would have them do. The way I see it, the purpose of this site is to strengthen peoples' testimonies of the gospel according to the LDS Church. While we are not an official site of the Church, we support the positions of the Church. Site rule #1 states: You can access the rules at the top of almost every page in the forums if you have any questions about them. I have suggested this approach to various offenders in the past, especially newer members of the site who run afoul of the rules, and that suggestion generally is met with disdain. There are other members of the site who like to run right at the edge of the rules, just inside the lines. As a mod staff, we know who you are and when we decide we have had enough of those games, we will take action. A good rule of thumb that I have found is to try to never post in anger or indignation. It generally does not end well when that happens. There are some topics which come up from time to time, which tend to get everyone caught up in an uproar. Usually they are the same topics which have been discussed in the near past, and they ended with hurt feelings and circular debates with no agreements or conceding points by any of the participants. In those types of cases, it has been our policy to end new debates of the same topic fairly quickly and with little or no warning. It's not that we don't want to tolerate good discussion, it's that we want to foster goodwill between members of the site, and our experience has been that certain hot-button topics rarely end well. As a mod team, and as members of the site, we have seen this over and over again. Sometimes we will let a new perspective or development on a topic get discussed, but the moment it starts to turn ugly, by any participant in the thread, we close it before it gets out of hand. It's not an exact science, I know, and sometimes people think they have the perfect post to help further a discussion and it was left out, but experience has shown us that generally when certain topics come up here, when the thread starts to go sour, it rarely gets put back onto a good track. We as a mod team, and I speak of myself here as well, are not perfect. Sometimes we make mistakes, even after we have discussed situations to the point where we feel we are doing the right thing. Sometimes we make snap judgements that in retrospect, may not have been the wisest move. We're human. I'm human. If you have an issue with a moderator, as with anything in life, the best thing to do is to contact them directly and talk about it. If your problem can't be resolved with the person, there is a chain of authority you can move up to talk to. Posting a new thread just to berate any or all the moderators is a quick ticket to our bad place, and is expressly against rule #6. I know I have a reputation as being some big bad meanie who exists to chew people up. Pam can tell you that that impression couldn't be further from the truth in real life. Yes, I know I come off as gruff sometimes, and that is usually a result of an unfortunate incident where I have taken on the mantle of being the one who informs people they have collected an infraction. I get it, no one likes the bouncers at the nightclub club either. But when I am in moderator mode, I have found it best to be forthright and to the point. Yes, I do sometimes volunteer to be the guy who informs of an infraction, even at times when I was not involved in the decision to give it. But I think that if you PM me (or any moderator for that matter) explaining your point of view calmly and patiently, without being accusatory or degrading, you will find me (us) willing to listen and patiently explain why we are doing things the way we are. I have found that when a person acknowledges that their actions may have played a role in them collecting an infraction, they generally take it to heart and come back to be some of the best members of the site. Sorry Vort for hijacking your quote to rant, I hope you don't think the last 90% of the post was aimed at you. It was aimed at the members of the site as a whole.

I agree, and we need to be sensitive to people who live with speech impediments. This thread is not addressed to or about those people. We hope you take this as a fun thread, not as attacking people who cannot help the way they talk.

Go without him. If he's much of a man he only cares about Harry Potter because it interests you.

I'm guessing it's a thing. Not LDS, not southern, not southern LDS, just a thing that some people tell themselves to justify paying a lower premium that that they can't justify in other ways. The thinking is not limited to certain stereotypical groups, it cuts across cultures, religions, and races.

You can, but it's generally judged to be expensive in relation to the expected return. Personally I'd rather have a general policy that can be used by the beneficiary as they see fit. You can buy insurance on just about anything in life or death if the price is right. Just like extended warrantys, sometimes they are worth it, sometimes they're not.

I sometimes say things wrong just to see if anyone notices, but mainly to get a reaction from my kids.

I'm insured for about twice what my wife is. I figured that if I were to die I want the mortgage and all the bills paid off, plus a cushion for her in the bank. If she dies, it would pay the bills and about half the mortgage, allowing me to refinance to a much smaller house payment if need be. The kids are old enough to that we wouldn't need a caregiver. I was once scolded by a financial advisor for having too much life insurance. His point was that you could put the added money for premiums into good investments and over time come out ahead of life insurance. I haven't really bought into that idea yet, but probably should look at it.

I used to work with a guy who became flustrated. Never could tell if he was flustered or frustrated, or both at the same time.

Nothing at all wrong with riding cycles. You just have to ride away from other cars. Especially in city or commute driving, it can get dangerous.

Nope, nothing wrong with growing up to ride a motorcycle. Congrats to his parents.

Our ward will occasionally do a 'Music Sunday' where they will ask people ahead of time to tell their favorite hymn, talk a little about why it means so much to them, and then we sing them.

Bored already? If you two need some pointers on what to do for the next few days, PM me and I can give you directions.