Hercules

^ I'm sorry to bring this up, but how can you make a comment like that when you have made a few comments that have essentially mocked this thread, topic, and vegetarians in general? A couple of examples being: dont they just force them into the slaught house then cut off their heads or something? I'm sorry if I misunderstood your intent with those posts, but the way they sounded at the time and the placement of them just didn't sit right with me.

Very interesting stuff here, and thanks for posting. I personally try to evaluate ever view point that I possibly can. I read books of different view points, watch videos with different views, magazine articles etc. I do that with just about everything - politics, animals, how to paint a house, how to throw a bowling ball, whatever. I understand your point on that, and I really do think that people should try to understand other peoples opinions instead of just telling them what is right and what is wrong when they are only taking their side into account. As far as PETA killing animals, that is a very over blown thing in my opinion. The only reason PETA would choose to kill an animal would be if it is the most humane thing to do. Yes, PETA does kill animals, but they do it in the most humane way that they can, and only if it is the "right" thing to do. If a dog is severly crippled and the is little to no chance of saving it, they will be put to sleep. If a deer is hit by a car and suffering on the side of the road, instead of prolonging its suffering, something should be done and the body should be disposed of. Somethimes it is just the right thing to do to prevent an animal from either suffering or just plain having a terrible life. PETA has given money to the very extreme animal rights activists in places like the UK. I believe it is something that they are trying to get away from now because they kind of want to improve their image in terms of that kind of stuff. PETA does protest organizations like the March of Dimes and other organizations because of their testing on animals. I know there have been long debates about this in the past pages of this thread about saving human lives, but animal testing, in my opinion, is not the way to do it. Besides, I have already stated my case about how things like heart disease, cancer and other diseases could be prevented before they even start. I also have a problem with the way PETA acts sometimes, as I have also stated. Some things I don't agree with, but others I think are warrented. However, they certainly aren't the ones that are going out and blowing things up. They do things like nude protests (which I don't agree with) and they try not to disturb the peace the best they can. I'm personally not a protesting kind of person. I have done it before, but I do my absolute best to do it legally. You can protest and not look like a total ass, even though there are people that believe otherwise. I think that people will listen if you talk to them rationally and give them the facts upfront. PETA believes, in most cases, that attention has to be brought to them, but then they get bad press for it and get and image like the crazy bag lady down the street that hangs out a Turkey Hill. I think their overall messages are great, and if you really take the time to sit and read the literature that they have, it is exceptional and very informative and well laid out. I just think that more people would be open to their messages if they didn't do "extreme" things. I will stick to my letter writing and such and see how it all works.

All I know is that my first major coaster was Comet at Hershey. I haven't paid much attention since.

^ All people are different. People have their own views and opinions.

I'm sure it is very far from "99.99%" of anmials. That is a little out there. I'm not saying that all slaughter houses are dirt holes. However, there are a whole lot of them out there that treat animals in horrible ways. There are places like organic or CSA farms that treat their animals very well. I'm sure there are a lot of smaller farms out there that treat their animals with respect too. Most of the mass production farms however are a totally different story, and those are the people that should be focused on here. Those aniamls are the ones that are seeing horrible lives and are killed in horrible fashions. There is a reason why there is a high turnover of workers within the meat industry. The average worker lasts 3 months on the job, and that is an average. Just think, there are people that last even less time. Now, I won't disagree that PETA is an organization that has their own beliefs, but I believe most of the stuff that they put out there and a lot of their stats are well researched, and are actually done out of house. However, they are certainly not the KKK or anything like that. I will also say that I don't necessarily agree with some of the ways that PETA tries to raise awareness. There is no need for nude people dancing around in elephant masks or anything like that. Though, I have to agree with their principle.

I must say I now have a new found respect for soccer.

And I thought the Magic Mountain petition was stupid.

If you be respectful to us, we will be respectful to you. I don't think that we have said anything disrespectful in this thread. We are just giving information. If you choose not to read it, then that is cool. If you don't have anything constructive to say, please don't say anything at all. Thank you.

Yeah. Thunder is a huge dog. I think he is pushing 120 pounds right now, and that is down from 128. It's a very nice place. I think it spans about 15 miles in radius and has 6 trails now.

I was running at the gym about a year ago and this was on the TV there. It wasn't that bad. I'm not really a fan of CSI or any show like it, and it was decent. Probably just because it had a coaster in it.

And for all those vegitarians/vegans, for lunch today, I had a nice, big Porterhouse Thanks for the respect.

When people are busy they try to find ways to save time. That is where fast food and convenience items come in. I'm not saying that stress and fast food are directly correlated, but they are both brought on by an overly busy work week/home life etc.

Fast Food Nation really is an excellent book. The only disturbing things that I see in there are the fact that America has become a society that is dominated by corporations, and now rely on convenience items. I realize that convenience things are much more efficient for most people with such heavy work loads, but just the fact that we have those crazy work loads is beyond me. People have so much stress in their lives in this country. A healthier livestyle would be easily achieved without stress and eatting fast food. Another thing that really bothers me is the specialization aspect of places like McDonald's and the rest of the country, but that is a whole other debate

One of the good things about living so close to the Poconos is the great wildlife and beauty that can be found in Nature. So, back in June my girlfriend and I went to the Pocono Environmental Education Center (PEEC) to take a walk on the trails with her dog Thunder before she went away to Denver. We like to head up to PEEC to go hiking and stuff on the trails 4 or 5 times a summer. I had just bought my new camera, so I figured that this would be a good place to test it out. Hope you enjoy! http://www.peec.org/ And lastly, this trail and the trees were planted by the Native Americans the used to inhabit this area. The trees are actually in very definted rows. Lukily, he was smart enough to turn around when he got down this far. I was kind of impressed. Thunder just absolutely loves water. I could have died taking these next few. Walking down the trail (as demonstrated by Tricia and Thunder) from the top takes you to some waterfalls. We took the orange trail, which is about 4 miles and about half way in it takes you to the top of the mountain and there are some nice views.

Isn't Momma Floras gone?

I don't know if there is hope. He has seen the stuff first hand. I agree that this is a year where the old management had the say of things, but I feel like those things (Lazy employees, bad operations etc.) are things that can be fixed now and nothing seems to be getting any better.

NFL Head Coach

That would be nice, but kind of goes against the whole thing about cruel and unusual punishment.

July 4th - It was running badly that day? I got my best ride on it so far then. Of course, it was my ride with larrygator at about 8:30, so maybe it warmed up. Thinking back, he first ride of the day wasn't that spectacular, so I guess I can see what you are saying. Even though it wasn't the best ride I had had on it, it was still top notch stuff, as was the second ride of the day an hour later.

That's freakin' awesome. I was hoping a PA park would pick that hunk of crap up just so I could see what it is like.

Since I haven't traveled around the world, it is all about Knoebel's to me.

If El Toro gets rough, I'll like it even more

The decisions had already been set before the new regime had taken over, just like the park maps were printed with Mr. Six on them etc. etc. ^ I completely agree wtih everything that was said by you GAcoaster. Everything was predetermined by the old management because Shapiro and company didn't have anything to do with what was in store for the new season. They couldn't make drastic changes. However, I just wish things were better run, people were trained better and employees actually cared. Those are things that really could be changed.

I have your back on Dorney. You will be able to ride Dragon Coaster and Woodstock. I personally like the back row, far left on Talon. Hydra it doesn't matter where you sit, the ride has not forces to speak of. I love the front row of the last car in the black train on Steel Force. It has a much smoother ride than the Red Train and the Blue train has a little rattle on it. For food, I love Center Stage fries. The park is usually pretty empty on weekdays, so you should be able to get multiple rides on everything (except Hydra because you will be bored after maybe 2 rides). There really aren't any tips from me because the park should be pretty dead. I would definately hit up Wildwater Kingdom if I were you. But overall, I wouldn't even waste the day at the park. Though, you haven't been there before, so I hope you have fun.

What do I know about Togo? I know that Viper sucked. That's all I need to know.