urban909

At Camp Casey in S. Korea, my brother was stationed their before and after he turned 21. It was illegal for those under the age of 21 to drink. " The minimum drinking age on a DoD installation located outside the United States shall be 18 years of age. Higher minimum drinking age will be based on international treaties and agreements and on the local situation as determined by the local installation commander." http://usmilitary.about.com/od/justicelawl...drinkingage.htm The reason for this is because Camp Casey is pretty notorious (according to my brother) in the US Army to be pretty rough. Now, turning to my thoughts on drinking. I do believe that the age should be lower and other mild-substances should be allowed to be legal in certain areas and/or under a certain amount. And before anyone jumps on that: 1. I have been in active recovery for over 5 years 2. I have worked in the field for those trying to recover 3. Making things, such as alcohol, harder to get the more people try to get it. Its simple teenager logic and I followed that logic by the book. An interesting fact I read awhile back (and if i can find a link, i will provide it) is that the local population smoke less weed compared to tobacco (which ironically is illegal now to smoke in restaurants, public places, etc.

I try to get the news as it is. I.E. watching BBC then NBC to get a middle ground. However, the best information I have gotten about the Iraq situation is from those that have been their. And things do look like they are improving enough, albeit slowly in some areas and faster in others. The health care centre being a good example. As RedScare said, I did/do oppose the war, the wasted money (The Iraq government actually has 80 billion in excess money NOT from outside aid). etc. And being called un-American, that's a ridiculous accusation. The military is fighting this war, not the United States; and I support our troops (my brother being one of them), but not our involvement in the invasion and the fiasco that followed.

Let

Personally I consider myself a global warming agnostic. Yes its not good to dump tons of CO2 in the air. But one also has to look at the way data is gathered in the first place. Data is based on models, which in turn, for example, depend on assumptions (complex as it is) such as ocean currents or atmospheric conditions etc, which no one truly understands in the first place. So wouldn't that make the models flawed/changing and in turn that data isn't fully understood? My major concern is carbon credits. http://www.stockpickr.com/problog/295/ This leading to being a trading that could outstrip traditional monetary trading; those companies/countries involved in selling carbon credits to companies that still pollute the same amount but "offset it" by buying credit and having some plants planted.

either that or some kind of battle royale...possibly involving donoughts and coffee with the viewing platform as some kind of arena...either way, seems like an interesting day...

i believe its above 60cc off the top of my head, thats why most can just buy a scotter without the M license...

the wife and i are going to get a piaggio mp250. cool scooter/bike that can hit 85...

good point. for example with the expansion of the Katy freeway there was some opposition in terms of not have a right of way for commuter/light rail if do believe but that seemed to get drowned out...and i don't know if its under/over or at the original estimated cost off the top of my head...for me, having a city of this size (everyday there are 438 more people on the road than the previous day) without efficient mass transit, albeit BRT and/or LRT is ridiculous and unacceptable...there can be a happy median between the two...

ohh, thats right. i am thinking of the marriot singapore with its unique design. its been awhile (10 years) since i have been through/to singapore...

the Mandarin Oriental is niiice!!! thats a good deal...

BOM-HEL-IAH: 7858nm 16:43 BLR-HEL-IAH: 8311nm 17:41 BOM-MUC-IAH: 8119nm 17:16 BLR-MUC-IAH: 8576nm 18:15 BOM-IAH: 7792nm 16:35 BLR-IAH: 8205nm 17:27 BOM-JFK-IAH: 8008nm 17:02 BLR-JFK-IAH: 8459nm 18:00 just some different route miles/flight times

is that the only ad seen in houston? its wierd that there isn't more ads around town (i.e. the galleria with EK). also, its odd that QR are not going to use their first class product to houston. EK is making a killing with their premium service...

ha! nice...

yeah, so about the "Big Airport", i call it either IAH or Intercontinental. i was on a flight not to long ago and a woman (who was telling me her life story for about 2 hours) thought she was flying into HOU where her entire family was picking her up for their reunion. so apparently, or maybe in this particular situation, people still get mixed up although a quick check will tell them where they are going...

huh...i knew that on there 772/3 that they had 10 across, but i thought that on the 77LR they would have 9 across seeing that they are using these planes on longer routes...

you're right, the new BusinessFirst will probably roll out with the delivery of the 788/9's. however, F, J, Y class on EK is still better in my book. now if i could actually afford B/F on CO and/or F/J class on EK i would still go with EK. but then there is the attraction of flying on the 788/9 with CO on this route...

i would much rather be on EK for 15-17 hours than CO...

in bellaire they will pull you over for going 1 mile over the speed limit, not using your directional, talking on the phone or for just being on the road in the first place. and there is NO way to fight it. i have managed to probably get a ticket once a year (and if its been over 12 months since the last traffic violation) i have taken it on defensivedriving.com. easiest way to get rid of a ticket and off of your record without having to deal with some throw-back comedian at a comedy defensive driving course. i used to drive way to fast when i was in my teens, but have since been a lot better (especially with all the speeding tickets )

I used to fly SIA (b/t 1993-1998) IAH-LAX/SFO-HKG (Kai Tak-Hong Kong)-SIN (Singapore)-CGK(Jakarta) and that took around 38-42 hours. The IAH-DME-SIN route is 22-23 hours. The layover in Moscow will be (from what i have heard) around 1 hour. I really wish we had SIA when i used to live in jakarta. that would have shortened the trip by about 15 hours...

i think they are a good idea on any crosswalk...glad METRO has taken this initiative...

well, i don't know quite what you mean by that, but houston has been a strong international airport for many years. KL (KLM) has been flying here for over 50 years; this is BA's (bristish airways) second most profitable route in the US after JFK; AF's (air france) most profitable US altogether, etc, etc. granted, we have had airlines come and go, but IAH has been one of the fastest growing international airports in the world, in the top 5 to be more specific. so, its awesome that we got EK, QR (2008), SQ (2008), KE (korean) will move from DFW or start its own route (skyteam and all), which i believe that all can find their niche here in houston and succeed/make a profit. i believe we do have room for a couple of more asian carriers; CI would have been more of a success had that a direct, non-stop route instead of going through SEA....

http://www.tribune.com.ng/21122007/news/news8.html well, although in the article they don't specifically mention houston, both W3 (arik air) and VK (virgin nigeria) have mentioned houston as one of their destinations. interesting to see if this truly happens... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arik_Air http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Nigeria

i don't believe they will ever fly here. VS tends to fly to leisure markets and they also tend to favor 'trendy' destinations. plus there is already too much competition from CO and BA, especially now with open skies...but i will still take SIA over VS...

they have specially equipped A345's (Airbus 350's) that seat 181 passengers, that fly out of EWR (Newark) (8,285NM) and LAX (Los Angelos) and fly it non-stop. i believe that it could make it. the reason it is stopping in DME (Domodedovo International Airport) is that it will be the first non-stop flight between two energy capitals, and onto the energy capital of SE Asia (Singapore). the first leg of the route will be a killing (both pax and cargo), especially because Singapore Airlines is using its new 77W's (777-300ER) which has its brand new First, Business and Economy products. http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/cont...p/new/index.jsp (ignore Singapore Airlines Suites as that is only for the Airbus 380).