Pesident Clinton

[Stuka]

LASERS.
Remember when THAT used to be the most intense subject on this forum?

Ahh, the good old days!

Happy Thanksgiving all!!!

[swamidog]

i would prefer someone with experience over haley, but she can't possibly be worse than bolton... probably.

Hehee, no silly Clinton chasing is hopefully just the beginning. Perhaps he's conned everyone? If so, at least the majority of voters saw it.

I'd love to see him as a moderate independent. His choice of SC Governor Nikki Haley is a reasonable choice for ambassador to the United Nations in my opinion. She has been a moderate republican who had the guts to speak against the alt-right/white supremacists (including The Donald) in the past. This said, I can't figure out why he's lashing out irrationally on twitter at the actors of Hamilton when they did absolutely nothing but be polite. SNL tweets were another silliness in the same week. "Great choice for POTUS" folks.

[planters]

I've done better ratio-wise over a third of the time with only moderate risk.

Excellent! In four years you might just get my vote.

I think your concern regarding 'the brown men' has been the foundation of your political arguments for at least 18 months now.

Interesting. Why are you so concerned about color? You might want to take a few minutes to think about ideology.

How many middle eastern people do you really know? How many predominantly Muslim countries have you been to? I've been to several and when comparing such countries against a Christian country of equal wealth per capital (e.g. Jordon/Turkey to Peru/Philippines) and I'd take the predominantly Muslim country first in most cases.

Your experience has given you some perspective. In turn, mine has given me some as well. But, that was not the point. Pence was criticized as a Bible thumper by swami. I was pointing out one of the potential "risks" posed by a presumably pro Christian VP. I do not believe anyone here wants people of any ideology DUMPED next door. You prefer a country that you visited to some other country that you visited and you can use whatever measure you prefer to make that comparison including, even their predominant religious beliefs. That's fine. That's your choice and you can even choose to move there if they'll have you. But, don't try to force anyone else to move there because you prefer it.

Ready for this? I bet you're not. SWAMI WAS RIGHT! Yes, I said that. How is that possible?

You're deflecting again! Who cares about the Clintons?

A lot less, thank God. But, I presented them to illustrate what actually happened as opposed to what you proposed. She was nearly elected and millions of people were OK with her. That is really scary.

Remember when THAT used to be the most intense subject on this forum?

That was when people were doing more interesting things with lasers. Have you noticed how that has dropped off? I'm still fascinated with them and I am building and experimenting, but I don't read about much other activity.

[swamidog]

That was when people were doing more interesting things with lasers. Have you noticed how that has dropped off? I'm still fascinated with them and I am building and experimenting, but I don't read about much other activity.

i wish i had more time for lasers right now. i'm still unpacking and re-structuring my life after a cross country move and lots of travel.

[Stuka]

i wish i had more time for lasers right now. i'm still unpacking and re-structuring my life after a cross country move and lots of travel.

Whoa, no longer in the Southwest?
Where do you call home now Chris?

[dkumpula]

Interesting. Why are you so concerned about color? You might want to take a few minutes to think about ideology.

I was pointing out one of the potential "risks" posed by a presumably pro Christian VP. I do not believe anyone here wants people of any ideology DUMPED next door.

Perhaps I should have used the "Muslim" instead. In either case, letting a small percentage of radicals extremists broadbrush a belief system of a mostly peaceful billion people isn't fair. Would you accept all christians to be painted with the Westbourough Babtist church brush? What makes you think you can choose your neighbors anyhow?

Regarding Pence and any politician, they need to represent ALL of their constituency without religious preference. This is the most fundamental beliefs upon which this country was founded upon.

That was when people were doing more interesting things with lasers. Have you noticed how that has dropped off? I'm still fascinated with them and I am building and experimenting, but I don't read about much other activity.

Tons of cool stuff is being done with lasers! Have you seen the ILDA winners for 2016? Tons of great stuff there including wins by our own PL members Kang and Swamidog. I have 4 new builds to write up as well that incorporate some cool features that I will get to shortly.

[swamidog]

Whoa, no longer in the Southwest?
Where do you call home now Chris?

still in the southwest, but i'm in santa fe, nm now.

[Stuka]

still in the southwest, but i'm in santa fe, nm now.

That's cool - can't imagine you voluntarily leaving the Southwest

[Stuka]

...
Tons of cool stuff is being done with lasers! Have you seen the ILDA winners for 2016? Tons of great stuff there including wins by our own PL members Kang and Swamidog. I have 4 new builds to write up as well that incorporate some cool features that I will get to shortly.

And you're my long-distance consultant for my bonus room laser studio conversion, which I hope to seriously start after the holidays.
Should make for an interesting conversation or two!
(And probably quite tame compared to this thread, LOL...)

[planters]

Perhaps I should have used the "Muslim" instead. In either case, letting a small percentage of radicals extremists broadbrush a belief system of a mostly peaceful billion people isn't fair. Would you accept all christians to be painted with the Westbourough Babtist church brush? What makes you think you can choose your neighbors anyhow?

I do understand what you mean. And, to some extent I agree with you, but where I disagree is the actual, practical magnitude of the difference. Both major groups have a subset of more aggressive adherents and no doubt an even smaller subset of even more aggressive adherents. It is the relative size of these subsets and more importantly, their aggressiveness that matters to those of us that aren't looking for a fight or would prefer not to have to worry about constantly having to defend their own beliefs and way of life.

What makes you think you can choose your neighbors anyhow?

This is actually a more important part of your post...to me. Freedom of association is important. We all want to be able to choose where we live and that choice includes a lot of factors including who WE CHOOSE to be willing to move next to. That choice does not extend to being able to prevent who chooses to move next to us because that, of course, is in turn, their choice. This is not a dictum or an inflexible law, but a subtle balance. Where the balance is upset is when, through governmental action, our neighbors are chosen for us with the artificial support of the government. For example, if the unsold house next to yours is purchased (by the government) and they decide to locate a drug rehab, half way house with 15 unrelated individuals living in it, a lot of people would not be happy about it. There may be nothing you can legally do about it, but it will definitely reduce your property values ect. Should you become violent, burn down the house or threaten the inhabitants? Of course not. But, the balance that you chose has been changed substantially through governmental power.

I don't support what Trump has done in the past to use governmental power to exercise eminent domain for his own financial gain or what the current administration has done to locate immigrants within small communities. This has nothing to do with how "brown" they are or what their religion happens to be. But, if they are unemployed, don't speak the language and are aggressive then this is just more bad.

Regarding Pence and any politician, they need to represent ALL of their constituency without religious preference. This is the most fundamental beliefs upon which this country was founded upon.

Bingo!

Tons of cool stuff is being done with lasers! Have you seen the ILDA winners for 2016?

No, I have not, yet. My own prejudice is that I am a technical geek. This is what I miss the most. I no longer build projectors (been there....), But, I love those discussions and how people innovate and improve. Not a lot of this seems to be going on. Beyond projectors (pun), there seems to be almost nothing.