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And the plaintiffs get paid some token, small amount because it's cheaper than litigating for the company they're suing. A very sad reality of our legal system. It's cheaper to buy people off than to fight their BS cases.

Actually, I'm totally fine with "pain and suffering" awards if there are actual injuries. It's just in a case where there aren't any actual injuries, I'm not sure what they'd be suing for. Plenty of people have *almost* wrecked into me while driving and I had to swerve to miss them. Doesn't mean I'm entitled to money for them for almost killing/injuring me.

It seems that Macs are a lot better at just getting out of your way and letting you do your work. The PC ain't cheaper if it is constantly screwing up on you and hurting your efficiency. That said, I'm hoping that Windows 7 works better than Vista because I really don't want to shell out the money for a decent Mac.

I don't understand why everyone thinks these people deserve monetary compensation from a lawsuit. They weren't actually injured were they? If they were injured, then sure. But compensating the "victims" for getting a nice scare on a roller coaster? Isn't that the purpose of the ride in the first place?

^68 is actually quite a bit compared to most "normal" people.

You clearly aren't majoring in anything science-related. The science departments at XU are rough. Then again they did an admirable job of preparing me for what I'm doing now. It is a great school though. I can't recommend it enough. Everything I hated about attending a big state school was NOT a problem there. Very user friendly in general. People actually want to help you there.

I really hope you went to Mammoth Cave while you were down there in KY. That rock shop is just up the street from the cave. Also, I hope you did the Wild Cave Tour because all the other tours are for wimps.

I don't think Duane counts glorified alpine slides.

Summer classes are for easy stuff like psychology. Taking math or science during the summer is always a risk. I took a year of physics in 8 weeks in the summer and it was utterly terrible.

More than likely the "victims" will hire an attorney. But since the damages look really minor, the case will probably never go to court. KBF might have to pay some very small amount of money to settle it out of court.

Only thing I know about Nigeria is this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmCnOP8_6hQ

^You do assume some inherent risks, but you also assume that the park takes every precaution necessary. And parks do some stupid things with their rides, like put corn starch on cables in drop towers even though the operating manual doesn't recommend this practice. As much as they are designed to create the illusion of fear, roller coasters are supposed to be a very safe activity. If I wanted to do something that was actually dangerous, I'd take up base jumping.

As if I needed another reason to hate this crappy park. Glad everyone is OK though.

I remember when I took Physics the professor said something along the lines of, "the main thing to remember about the right hand rule is that it's the right hand rule". It's easier than it sounds to make that mistake. Incidentally, I know an engineer turned ER doc who says that engineering school is harder than medical school. At least in terms of the difficulty of the problems. Medical school is a lot of easy concepts and facts given to you at a death march pace. Engineering school, like you say, has problems that take unreasonable amounts of time to solve.

^^If you spring for the Q-bot, you could probably do Dollywood in a day. I like the place quite a bit, but I don't know if I consider it a 2-day park. Hillbilly Golf up the road in Gatlinburg is fun. You get to take a funicular up the mountain to the actual mini golf courses.

^Most of the time you can avoid the crowds by going in shoulder season. Maybe I'll go to Prague next year before the UK trip. Maybe hit Vienna or Budapest as well.

Thank you for posting this! For those who don't know, Prague is one of the most well-preserved cities in Europe, mainly because it suffered very little bombing in WWII. I so need to get there ASAP.

Japan looks really bizarre and fun. I need to get there soon! Stupid school sucking all my time and money.

^Strangely, I don't remember having that problem. It's not one of the better B&Ms, but I didn't mind it.

That looks incredibly staged to me. Kanye looks like he's playing "bad guy wrestler".

Excellent pictures of one of the most beautiful parks in the world. Can't wait to go back when they get the new woodie opened. As much as I liked this place, it could use some help in the coasters department.

Florida has Good Mummy. Having ridden the Orlando version first, I found the USH rendition to be a real disappointment. It's just not nearly as thrilling, no airtime, etc.

^Chipotle is very good, one of my favorites. But they can be problematic in downtown areas with a lot of office workers where your choices are: 1) Wait in a 30 minute line to get your burrito. 2) Send in your order via the Internet and have it be cold even if you pick it up exactly at the time they're supposed to have it ready. You can't circumvent this by putting your order in last minute (preventing them from making it ahead) because they're likely to give you something absurd like 2 PM as the earliest possible pick up time. 3) Eat lunch at an odd time, like 3 PM. Still, it's a great place, better than a lot of the crappier sit-down Mexican chains, like Don Pablos.

^See, I got this recipe out of Cooks Illustrated for homemade California drive-in burgers and it includes an easy 1000 island dressing recipe. I think making it fresh makes a difference as In-n-Out's dressing is fairly watery and bland. But if you're not into the dressing, then it's not going to work for you. I'm currently stuck making everything at home as I've moved to a new town with no Five Guys and I haven't found the good local places yet either. In-n-Out will never come this far east. Strangely, we have a Del Taco. I had no idea they were in Ohio until very recently.

^The odd thing about Panera is the worst thing they sell is their bread. Better make sure your dental plan is current, because Panera's bread is hard as a rock and liable to chip your teeth. Yes, it's actually a pretty good place other than the stale bread they name themselves after. Apropos the burger discussion in the China thread: I still think In-n-Out easily beats Five Guys. While Five Guys easily beats Fatburger, I was slightly disappointed in their product. They make a pretty solid burger to order, but I prefer the classic California burger that is more finely ground, loosely packed, and with the thousand island dressing. Also, Five Guys *really* needs to stop using foil to wrap their burgers as it gives them a distinct metallic taste. Not sure why they haven't figured that out. Also, I think In-n-Out makes better fries than Five Guys. And Five Guys loses major points for not selling shakes. Anyway, I know of a few local burger joints that put all these fast food places to shame. And I can make a better burger at home anyway using a food processor, two kinds of beef, and homemade dressing. But I do really like these higher end fast food burger places. Even third string Fatburger. It's quite nice to pay someone else to do the work.