[Royal Orleans Security Threat?]

1 hour ago, LZ77 said:

Really hope they can solve the issue. Strange thing is that there was a brand new member that posted a image that was alluded to being from the Pontiac video. They were called out and banned. That's when the issues with the site started. 

Wait what? What's wrong with posting an image from the Pontiac video?

[TSRTS is Mobile AL]

Oh my god this thread...

Quick question to OP. You know that we did indeed land on the moon, right? And that the earth is an oblate spheroid... not flat?

But seriously... I never, in my life, thought I'd see a conspiracy theory about the audio used on a live show.

We know exactly where the audio from The Song Remains the Same comes from. It comes from 3 shows at Madison Square Garden in 1973 (July 27th, 28th, and 29th). Some of the footage was shot on a sound stage, but the audio is all from those four shows. 

I noticed, OP, that you ignored SteveAJone's link to The Garden Tapes, which is a website that breaks down exactly what audio sources are used for Led Zeppelin official live releases, and how they're use. Here's that link again. I suggest you click on it and learn something... and stop dabbling in conspiracy theories, my dude. They aren't good for your mental health...

[Thunder Down Under (EVSD)]

Hey. Are there any updates on this? I've been hoping to see a torrent somewhere I could jump on, but haven't seen anything yet.

[The Recipe Thread]

I haven't posted here in, like, a bazillion years. Why not begin again in this thread, which I started?

But first?

Chocolate Guinness cupcakes (three of my favourite things together mmmmm...)

Makes 24 cupcakes

Cupcake ingredients

1 (12-ounce) bottle Guinness stout

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

3/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, plus more for garnish

2 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Frosting ingredients

1 (8-ounce) pkg cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 lb confectioners' sugar

Cocoa powder, for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the Guinness, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the sour cream.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, and baking soda. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet Guinness mixture.

4. Butter 24 muffin tins and divide the batter among the muffin tins.

5. Bake 25 minutes, until risen and set in the middle but still soft and tender. Cool before turning out of the tins.

6. Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the heavy cream. Slowly mix in the confectioners' sugar. Top each cupcake with a heap of frosting and dust with cocoa.

Anyone made this? Can it be made without the milk and maybe less sour cream? I find my taste for creamy leaving and my taste for bittersweet growing (even with ice cream... I prefer a fruity ice cream or an Italian Ice to a classic ice cream these days).

Also, I'd love to make a completely non-dairy version of this for those I know who are Jewish (for after a meat meal).

Anyways... I have some recipes from this place called "Top Secret Recipes" run by Todd Wilbur.

So here's one I will share. You all know the classic Auntie Anne's Pretzels, right?

Well...

I'm sorry to say that it's not one of his free recipes. (That's a link to the recipe page.) However, I bought it a long time ago, so here it is, in full:

The first Auntie Anne's pretzel store opened in 1988 in the heart of pretzel country - a Pennsylvanian Amish farmers' market. Over 500 stores later, Auntie Anne's is one of the most requested secret clone recipes around, especially on the internet. Many of the recipes passed around the Web require bread flour, and some use honey as a sweetener. But by analyzing the Auntie Anne's home pretzel-making kit in the secret underground laboratory, I've discovered a better solution for re-creating the delicious mall treats than any clone recipe out there. For the best quality dough, you just need all-purpose flour. And powdered sugar works great to perfectly sweeten the dough. Now you just have to decide if you want to make the more traditional salted pretzels, or the sweet cinnamon sugar-coated kind. Decisions, decisions.

1 1/4 cups warm water

1 tablespoon plus 1/4 teaspoon yeast

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Bath

4 cups warm water

1/2 cup baking soda

1/4 cup butter, melted

kosher or pretzel salt

Cinnamon Topping

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a small bowl or cup. Let it sit for a few minutes.

2. Combine flour, powdered sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add water with yeast and vegetable oil. Stir with a spoon and then use your hands to form the dough into a ball. Knead the dough for 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Dough will be nice and smooth when it's ready. Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover it, and store it in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until the dough doubles in size.

3. When dough has risen, preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

4. Make a bath for the pretzels by combining the baking soda with the warm water and stir until baking soda is mostly dissolved.

5. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 8 even portions. Roll each portion on a flat non-floured surface until it is about 3 feet long. Pick up both ends of the dough and give it a little spin so the middle of the dough spins around once. Lay the dough down with the loop nearest to you. Fold the ends down toward you and pinch to attach them to the bottom of the loop. The twist should be in the middle.

6. Holding the pinched ends, dip each pretzel into the bath solution. Put each pretzel on a paper towel for a moment to blot the excess liquid. Arrange the pretzels on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. If you want salt, sprinkle pretzels with kosher or pretzel salt. Don't salt any pretzels you plan to coat with cinnamon sugar. You will likely have to use two baking sheets, and be sure to bake them separately. Bake the pretzels for 4 minutes, then spin the pan halfway around and bake for another 4 to 5 minutes or until the pretzels are golden brown.

7. Remove the pretzels from the oven, and let them cool for a couple of minutes. If you want to eat some now, brush 'em with melted butter first, if desired, before serving. If you want the cinnamon sugar coating, make it by combining the 1/2 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl. Brush the unsalted pretzels you plan to coat with a generous amount of melted butter. Sprinkle a heavy coating of the cinnamon sugar onto the entire surface of the pretzels over a plate. Munch out.

Makes 8 pretzels.

And here's a couple comments I collected from the recipe page:

Randy

7/5/2007 8:36:00 PM

I found a much easier way to roll out the pretzels is to place the dough between two pieces of press-n-seal wrap (instead of in a bowl) and set it out on the kitchen counter. Let it rise for 3 hours so it is nice and soft, then use a PIZZA CUTTER wheel to slice off pieces to roll out into pretzels. It makes it so much easier to roll them out, and the process goes MUCH faster!

Gentry

9/18/2007 3:14:00 PM

This recipe is fantastic! Better than Auntie Anne's. They are a lot of work, but much easier if you use the dough setting on your bread machine. Just follow your machine's instructions on what order to add the ingredients. They are also very good with half whole wheat flour!

I really want to know how y'all did. When I made them, they turned out really, really good. They weren't exactly like Auntie Anne's, but they were the closest I've ever come to Auntie Anne's pretzels without actually buying one.

Enjoy!

[What Do You Guys Believe Exists?]

Hi Nathan,

When your Soul leaves your body and travels up to Heaven, Purgatory or Hell, let me tell you that at −273.15°C or −459.67°F or Fcuking Cold to the rest of us, you really do need your cloths on, and if Ally remembered to look very closely He will remember that His White Lady had Thermal Nickers on as well.

Regards, Danny

I think I would prefer the word unlikely than impossible as to their existence. But you are basing your conclusions on numbers

Yes and no. I'm basing my conclusions on both mathematical and logical statistics. We know for a fact intelligent life evolved once (see: planet earth). So it's already not impossible. Statistically speaking, if it can happen once, it can happen again. Our universe is huge. Impossibly huge. We humans can't comprehend how big it is, and we probably never will. There has to be more intelligent life out there. I don't see how it's possible that we're the only ones, and I'm quite sure that the vast majority of scientists would agree.

and I would certainly classify you as an agnostic over an atheist based on your past posts on Judaism. Your parents would probably not like the idea of you expressing yourself as an atheist being from a Jewish raising I would guess? Whether they are orthodox or conservative. I do not rule out anything that is out there.

The only people in my family who seem to take issue are my Dad (a Hazzan), and my mom's dad (a Deacon). The rest seem absolutely fine with it.

And here's why I'm not an agnostic:

http://www.merriam-w...ionary/agnostic

1 : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god

2: a person unwilling to commit to an opinion about something <political agnostics> — ag·nos·ti·cism noun

I do not hold any view that ultimate reality is unknown and unknowable. In fact, while I agree it may not be currently known, I in fact think it is most definitely knowable. I also am NOT unwilling to commit to a position.

Here is what I say, specifically, about God and the supernatural:

I do not rule out the possibility that my mind can be changed. If future evidence suggests that there is a higher power, then I will change my mind most readily. That said, my understanding of our universe (based on studying astronomy, cosmology, physics, biology, etc) leads me to conclude that any sort of creator is entirely unnecessary. Therefore, I lack belief in any form of higher power (or am otherwise skeptical).

I believe the position is known as "weak atheism" or "agnostic atheism".

I do admit that if definitive evidence of a creator came about, I'd most likely be a Jew. I love the culture and the civilization. So I'm no anti-theist (I was when I first lost my faith, mostly just out of anger that I lost my faith). I honestly don't care what anyone believes, as long as they don't try and force it on me, and, unlike some, I'm not interested in "spreading atheism" (which I think is incredibly stupid, quite frankly, especially since the lack of proselytizing is what first endeared me to Judaism). I am, however, quite vocally outspoken against religious radicalism (creationism, Sharia Law, religious-inspired bigotry, etc) and do in fact support anti-theism in response to religious radicalism (because while you can't fight fire with fire, you also can't put out a raging inferno with a light drizzle).

Although I do think I'm starting to pull this thread off-topic. Sorry...

Perhaps we should move to a private conversation or start a new thread if you want to continue with this?

Alien life and I do indeed believe in God. But unlike you, believe that Jesus is indeed the son of God.

Fair enough.

But that aside, its probably going to be difficult to live to see proof of life out there due to time and distance. And just how far away things are. If there were intelligent life in striking distance, within a few galaxies in distance, dont you think we would have already heard from them?

No.

Light speed is the cosmic speed limit. From everything we know, it is literally impossible to go faster.

The closest star to our solar system (that is not the sun) is Proxima Centauri. It is 4.2421 light years, or 2.49371841 x 10¹³ miles, away. Currently, the fastest vehicles we have are the twin Helios spacecraft currently in orbit around the sun. Using their fastest speed, it would take 18,110 years to get there from here (or from here to there). The reason light speed is basically an impossible speed barrier to break is because as matter goes faster, its mass increases. In order to reach light speed, we would need a rocket many times the size of our solar system burning more fuel than is estimated to exist in our entirely solar system... indeed, burning more fuel than our sun burns. Even if we were thousands of years ahead in technology, it would be impossible (the reason light can reach that speed is because photons basically have no mass, so there's no mass to increase).

Yes, there are other ideas... wormholes, warp drives, etc. But none of these are currently technologically possible for us, and even Michio Kaku and Stephen Hawking have trouble seeing how it could ever be done. The amount of energy required would be ridiculously massive... making a supernova look non-existent by comparison, in fact. And there's no way of knowing what damage such a thing could do to the fabric of spacetime (and therefore existence), so even if it was possible, the question would then be, is it really worth the (possible) risks?

We are currently not technology capable of understanding anything that could come from so far away. If the human species lasts long enough, I promise you that our great-great-great-...-great-grandchildren will likely not be alive to see the day we actually "make contact" with other life. We are currently just too primitive, and will be for an extremely long time.

Let's be realistic for now and just look forward to landing the first man on Mars, perhaps a colonization on the Moon, and private/commercial flights into space. Those are more realistic goals with our current level of technology, and I can guarantee that most of us on this board will be alive to see at least 2 out of those 3 goals, if not all 3 (in fact, I would not be surprised if Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones live to see the first man on Mars... it will likely happen within the next decade).

And they may just be too far away. Perhaps they have a signal traveling out there, maybe on its way to us? God, I sure hope the first thing they hear from us is not I Love Lucy.

No, don't worry. Our TV/Radio signals die out before they even leave our solar system, so I Love Lucy will most likely never be heard/seen by anyone out there.

[What Do You Guys Believe Exists?]

Way back in this thread I related what I believe to be a true ghost story . I am not one who studies this type of experience nor am I somebody who feels the need to explain it. I just know that for whatever reason,it happened. Female dressed in white glancing into our bedroom as she walked by. Have never experienced another situation like it since but, I still get a chill whenever it comes to mind.

Throw another log on the fire please !!!

emphasis mine

And that right there is why I don't believe it.

Clothes don't have souls, and they don't die. No way there are clothes of any kind in any afterlife world.

Note: I'm only being halfway facetious.

[What Do You Guys Believe Exists?]

Hi Nathan. I remember you. I used to be Yukon. Im with you on Bigfoot. I used to think the Loch Ness Monster had something to it but no more. Hoax. I would not totally exclude supernatural. I just dont know. Life in outer space, I believe it has to exist somewhere but too far away for us to detect presently.

I don't completely rule out the supernatural. I am an atheist, but not the stereotyped "I know for a fact that there are no gods or such" atheist.

I simply find myself skeptical due to the lack of empirical evidence, and I find the canard "science can't touch the supernatural" to be a sad cop-out. People have told me that it'd be better to call myself an agnostic, but I do not think it can never be known (an agnostic is someone who thinks it is impossible to know so there's no point talking about it, basically). I do, in fact, think the question can be answered. So no, I don't know, but it can be known, and I am skeptical.

As far as life in outer space, you don't have to believe it... it's a fact.

The smallest amount of planets in our observable universe is estimated at around 100 billion trillion. So even if intelligent life is a rare as 1 in a billion (which, if I'm not mistaken, is the projected statistic), that still means there are at least 1 billion planets in our observable universe alone with intelligent life on them. And that's only in our observable universe. It's pretty much accepted that our observable universe is no where near being the entire universe, and it's actually possible that the amount of planets could actually be infinite, or, at the very least, there could be so many planets that to human understanding the amount of planets may as well be infinite (we may not actually have a name for the number), making the existence of more intelligent life outside of our planet entirely inevitable.

In other words, it is impossible for intelligent extraterrestrial life to not exist, simply because of the size of our universe (and I do emphasize our universe since it's pretty much accepted that our universe is not the only one [or, if it is, it wasn't always the only one]).

[Beautiful Women]

Wow. This thread is still kickin'...

(< thumbnail due to size of picture)

[What Do You Guys Believe Exists?]

The Illuminati.

Died out in 1785.

[What Do You Guys Believe Exists?]

Woah. I've changed. I believed in ghosts, bigfoot... and I used that canard "absence of evidence does not equal evidence of absence"?

*cringes*

I will put out that this a comment on only me, no one else, so no need to take it personally unless your name is Nathan, you live in Boca Raton, FL, your Dad is Jewish clergy, and you haven't posted here in a really long time.

Guess I gotta change some answers:

Bigfoot: No

Ghosts: No (side note: why are they always wearing clothes in sightings? If you think about it, it makes no sense.)

Supernatural: No

[Make me laugh!]

From NotAlwaysRight.com:

http://notalwaysright.com/welcome-to-b-c-bookstores/3954

Welcome To B.C. Bookstores

Video Game Store | Los Angeles, CA, USA (I’m ringing up a young couple for a video game. The girlfriend asks about the game and the boyfriend describes it to her.)

Boyfriend: “[in the game] you’re one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.”

Girlfriend: “Which one?”

Boyfriend: “War.”

Girlfriend: “Who are the others?”

Boyfriend: “Famine, Pestilence, and Plague.”

Girlfriend: “Who makes this s*** up?!”

(2,078 Thumbs Up!)

[Make me laugh!]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WidsgIt3lfw

Tim Minchin is a favorite of mine.

Yeah for rationality!

[What Made You Happy today?]

First, to ~tangerine~... thanks! For those who don't know, last weekend was the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanna) and this weekend was the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). Now I'm not a particularly religious Jew myself (ask me sometime how I feel about religion... and I hope you feel the same way or we'll fight for hours), but I find the traditions quite beautiful. So... thanks!

(And boy did I have a lot to atone for this year! )

Second... ZFF's posts actually make me happy. He's a very positive person. Yes, that can be annoying sometimes, but with so much darkness in the world, occasional light is a good thing, and ZFF definitely shines light. So I say thank you to ZFF for his posts.

Finally... I have something to post in here for once...

My Statistics teacher. My financial aid has yet to come thru, so I have no money to pay for my semester, yet. My Statistics teacher has gone the extra mile to make sure I can still take my tests and do well despite not being able to afford my books or materials needed for the class. If I fail tomorrow's (today's) test (at 10:00 AM), I am only failing myself and her. Wish me luck, everyone!

[Marijuana legalization]

Yes, her faculties were impaired due to pot and booze combined. So now she, her 2-year-old daughter, her three nieces, and three men are dead.

Okay. Great. So pot and booze were combined. Who said combining drugs was a good idea?

the very fact that booze was involved negates the point you're trying to make, though. This one can't be pinned on marijuana, quite simply because alcohol was involved. As such, it's a combination of drugs, which is something the study wasn't considering.

Marijuana, by itself, combined with no other drugs, has ever killed a single person in its recorded history.

[Marijuana legalization]

Police Delve Into Mind-Set of Drunken Woman Whose Crash Killed Eight

Investigators revealed Tuesday that she had been drunk and high on marijuana as she drove a minivan 1.7 miles in the wrong direction on the Taconic State Parkway in Westchester County.

Key word right there.

Sure, she had been smoking pot, but she was also DRUNK. Once you throw alcohol into the picture, things change.

If she had just been high, you'd have a point. But she was also drunk.

[Marijuana legalization]

Annual causes of death in the United States:

Tobacco: 435,000

Poor Diet and Physical Inactivity: 365,000

Alcohol: 85,000

Microbial Agents: 75,000

Toxic Agents: 55,000

Motor Vehicle Crashes: 26,347

Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs: 32,000

Suicide: 30,622

Incidents Involving Firearms: 29,000

Homicide: 20,308

Sexual Behaviors: 20,000

All Illicit Drug Use, Direct and Indirect: 17,000

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs such as Aspirin: 7,600

Marijuana: 0! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. None! Zip! Zilch! Nadda! Nyet! No one!

(Source: http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30)

Wow.... Aspirin kills more people a year then Marijuana. So why is Marijuana illegal again?

[Marijuana legalization]

Bill Hicks on Marijuana (about 3:54 in)

Enjoy...

[Beautiful Women]

I would say those people haven't seen too many women then. There is no such thing as 'the most beautiful woman on earth'.

She's not all that special anway.

I see better looking women walking down the street than over hyped 'movie stars'. In fact, some of the ladies who post here are better looking than some so called 'stars'.

One thing I like about Megan is that she isn't a fake beauty. By that I mean, she's just as, if not more pretty "natural" (without all the make-up and magazine touch-ups). Like I said, I met her. And it was a chance encounter, not a planned one. So she wasn't all "made up" for a function or magazine shoot, and she was still extremely good-looking.

Kinda like Kate Beckinsale, actually, who's beautiful even without the make up.

Ain't that the truth. That's why lists like the one People magazine has of "50 most beautiful" are a joke. They are restricted to celebrities only. Go to a shopping mall and you will see eye candy just as pleasing as Megan Fox.

Well yeah, of course. There's eye candy every where. Celebrities just happen to be in the spotlight more often.

[Beautiful Women]

They showed a pic of Megan on tmz last night with cameltoe. Not good. The first bad pic i have seen of her.

Only reason I don't like camel toe is 'cause it leaves too much to the imagination.

Just show the kitten, damnit!

Ah, much better...

[Beautiful Women]

She can't have very high standards if she was dating Brian Austin Green. A low level nothing actor. Who couldn't even act.

She is also breaking up with him. Was when I met her.

But it's a shame she is a game player. Women who tease and play hard to get aren't worth the time or the effort.

This is exactly how you and I are very different... the fact that she plays hard-to-get just made me and makes me want her even more, because it's human nature to want most what you can't have.

Plus, she is easy to talk (not in the "she's dumb" way, but in the "she somehow had many of the same interests I did" way... it was cool that she new so much about both Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd... and she's a fan of an underground band I like, Days of the New. That was definitely shocking to hear.)

She is smokin hot though.

Oh yes she is. Very much so.

[Beautiful Women]

You wouldn't like her, spats. She's a tease and loves to play hard to get (she's a game-player, no doubt... and she's really good at it), and her standards are really frickin' high. I've met her (talked to her for about 15 minutes) and I know I don't stand a chance, so you definitely wouldn't.

Still...

NSFW:

http://www.realnipples.com/wp-content/uplo...fox-topless.jpg

http://images.google.com/images?q=Megan%20...l=en&tab=wi

She is hot as fuckin' hell, though... and easy to talk to (that's two extremely hot female celebrities I've been able to talk to... Lindsay Lohan for almost two hours, and Megan Fox for 15 minutes or so... and yet I normally can't talk to anyone face-to-face... coolio).

[Make me laugh!]

Me: "Hey Dad! Yesterday I had an epiphany!"

Dad: "Did you flush?"

[The Recipe Thread]

Tasty tasty adult slushy:

You will need:

-A blender

-Ice Cubes

-Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

-3 parts Sabra (most likely you'll only find Chocolate Orange... there is a mint chocolate flavor, but it's hard-as-hell to get, and if you are lucky enough to find it, it'll be expensive... and that's because only the Chocolate Orange flavor is made in the US. The other flavors are made in Israel. Therefore, the flavor we used was Chocolate Orange)

-2 parts Kahlua

-2 parts St. Brendan's(sp?) Irish Cream (not Bailey's because Brendan's is smoother)

-1 part Chocolate Vodka

-3 parts Fris Vodka

-3 Lindt Lindor Truffles (your choice... we used 2 white chocolate and 1 milk chocolate... only because that's all we had)

Blend all the ingredients in a blender with ice until smooth. Poor into individual cups and enjoy. Oh, and yes, you can put whipped cream on top. The beauty of this drink is that it's rather strong, but you don't get that sharp kick that comes with many alcoholic drinks... it's smooth enough to almost taste non-alcoholic, but yet is very alcoholic.

[Make me laugh!]

Jeff Dunham:

Spark of Insanity: YouTube Playlist

Arguing with Myself: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

[Beautiful Women]

She would not need me to. But considering it's her I might make an exception. It's not everyday you get to go out with Paris Hilton. She is not your average every day woman. My buddies would envy the hell out of me instead of me envying them which is how it is usually.

She is not your average every day woman? No kidding. She's dumber (and by that I mean stupid) then your average, everyday woman. And, personally, I don't care how pretty she is (although I don't think she has the prettiest face because it's reminiscent of a bull dog, IMO)...because of her personality and the fact that she is the definition of the stereotypical blonde in every way, shape, and form, I wouldn't touch her with a 100-foot poll. I wouldn't be caught dead her, with the exception of photos of her that happen to have me in the background because I happen to be on the same street, and only then because I can't control those.

What about Kate Beckinsale? She definitely does not need to be "touched up."

This is Kate Beckinsale "natural" (that is, untouched by magazines... although she probably is wearing make-up):

Oh, and BTW... the following is Paris Hilton with little make-up and not touched-up:

*shudders*

Not pretty (sorry).