Hercules

Yeah, 3 months late. That was a rumor that I had heard for a while, but it was confirmed when I read an interview with Shapiro a month or so ago. I personally only found out about it on Kingda Ka media day.

Actually, you see three

I have to admit that I hate the station, but it works. It saved a little money (I guess maybe, they DID have to do a lot of work to it) and some time (well maybe not, like I said they DID have to do a lot of work to it). I'm changing my views on the station now. Although I didn't like it in the first place because it just gives me bad memories of Viper. The project seemed "rushed" though. Obviously it wasn't because it opened late, but I'm positive that this wasn't in their 5 year plan considering it was ordered 3 months late.

We got tickets on El Toro yesterday, but only in the afternoon, not in the evening and then they didn't even both looking at the numbers on the tickets. They just made sure that you had one. Talk about a waste of money on tickets. I had even gotta a ticket for Nitro a couple of weeks ago and the line was about 30 minutes long. I can see the idea for it, but if it is not enforced then it is really pointless.

I bet even if we had shown a video to the security at Great Adventure they would not have done anything. Their excuse would have be something like "Blah blah blah, policy, blah blah". I wish there was a policy that said they have to do their job. I still can't believe that holding a spot in line for someone is not considered line jumping.

They used to have the "life guard" chairs on Superman and a few other bigger name rides in the park but management decided to take them all out. WTF?

Anybody that promises to not be an annoying fanboy, always seems to turn out to be an annoying fanboy. That is just going off of my many fanboy experiences though

There were guys that actually got it all on their cell phone, but when I asked them to show it, they just went up to the station and when I told security that I would go get them, security ignored me.

It wasn't really that bad of a line for Superman. If it weren't for the fighting, we would have gotten through it in a half hour. Anyway, I guess I'll add a few things in here. Because I just can't get enough El Toro from across the water. Here is the gang filling out the paperwork at Security. Notes - They only had one pen in the ENTIRE office, so everyone had to share. And they didn't even have a clipboard, so they had to write on the trash as demonstrated by Joe. This is a picture of Larry pleading his case to Roland the security guard while Joe flashs pictures of the people that roughed Larry up. In this picture we have - Joe doing his best ACEer impression, the angry mob, and Larry in his mean sunglasses trying to fend of the angry mob before getting pushed 50 feet up the line. Here you have the mass of people harassing Larry. This was just before he got the crap kicked out of him by a girl.

I have to say that I have experienced stuff like this away from Six Flags parks, allow I'm not trying to discount the fact that the parks are and always will be ghetto, I'm just trying to give them a fair shot. About 10 years ago I was a witness to a huge gang fight in the parking lot of Dorney Park. There were 3 gangs, and a total of 75 homies in all. Knives and I'm sure some guns were flashed. Of course, this was a time that there was a mass infiltration of people from the city into the Allentown area, so things were starting to get pretty bad around Allentown, Bethlehem and Dorneyville's surrounding areas. I'm not sure what happened as we were smart and got the hell out of there, but it was a bad situation. The incident yesterday in line at Great Adventure was just old school Great Adventure to me, with fighting and verbal slurs all the way around, all the while with House of Pain bumping the speakers. I guess the place really will never change. Last year was so much better though.

I'll get in on the discussion here. El Toro actually gets better and better every time that I ride it. Larry and I, however, were victoms of one train operation and a couple of breakdowns that caused us to wait 2 1/2 hours for our last ride of the day, as he mentioned earlier. I have to say that I really liked the park operations last year a lot more than this year. I hate all of the flowery words that Shapiro is throwing out there and how nothing is being done to improve. I was impressed in the beginning of the year when they were actually "trying", but it has just gone down since April and May. The whole fight in the line was a sign of that. Security is beefed up for this year, but it would be great if they were actually taught how to do their job and then actually did them. I had never seen the Medusa line so short, but I'm not complaining that much. Kingda Ka sucks. I like having El Toro and Kingda Ka in the park (when they run) but would love more good flats. The park really does kind of suck without flat rides. A park experience to me isn't just coasters. And since they are going for the families, a few tame flats would be nice along with some bigger ones to keep people like me and the teens in those families happen.

Don't worry, he has been there. Plus he is going to be meeting up with some "experts" while there.

It's cool that you didn't love it. I know that I think it is a pretty damn good ride. I'm into that borderline rib cracking experience. But you liked the front better? I thought that the front was pretty lame, at least on the first drop. I loved the drop on the back and it is my favorite first drop on a wood, even after riding El Toro. The place is a dump with horrible staff, but I think it has character at the least. Anyway, hope you have a good night in Philly. I'll see you tomorrow.

For a Top Spin go to Coney Island. That thing will either make you love them or hate them. Either way, it will make you hurl your Nathan's hot dog.

I attended the annual Matamoras Community Festival this past Saturday night for a big grand total of 27 minutes. Yes, there was that much to do there. It was so exciting. And to think, it actually used to be crappier. The first year they had it, my girlfriend and I went and made the rounds in 5 minutes and left. Pretty pathetic. Well, it has gotten better, but it still really sucks. I was actually supposed to work there this week (my girlfriend's parents sell body jewelry and sterling silver and I was supposed to help) but it was deemed not worth it by us because of the flood killing one night and the chance of rain for 2 of the remaining 3. Anyway, enough about that boring crap. EDIT: Sorry, it's been a while since I've done a PTR. The pics are backwards. I hope you enjoy though. The entrance to the welcome center off of I84 was still flooded. Well, this is where we are. The Matamoras Fire Department puts this on every year here at Airport Park in Matamoras, PA. I'm sure I could come up with something relatively humorous to say here, but I won't just in respect of how great of a job they did Yay! Country music in a trailer! This is the big ticket attraction at the "festival" - the swinging ship. The thing actually sways from side to side about a foot each way on every swing. You know it is a bad sign when they can't even hang the sign up. Anybody with a death wish? Once again, out in the open. Too bad they didn't take into account that only 10% of the Matamoras and Port Jervis population can actually read. A little love for the Trabant. The crappy kiddie rides with other equally crappy rides in the background. See Dan - water can be fun! This girl kicked some serious butt. See those three popped balloons? All her. Now daddy gets to carry around a giant stuffed snake for the rest of the night in the horrible humidity. This is the infamous dunk tank. In previous years it has just looked like river water, but this year with the flooding, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually was. Those crazy Republicans. It's not a party in Hicksville without beer. Ok, so, 10% of people can actually read. So taking into account that approximately 4% of those are children and young adults under the age of 21 and the fact that people have a hard time reading when drunk, that means that only 2.5% will actually compreh Wrestling was there and was mildly entertaining and was the only reason I was able to stay for the 27 minutes that I did. I left just after this match was over, which included a guy get thrown through a flaming table, a fight outside of the ring that led

Again I will say, I think some are missing the point a little. It is not necessarily about equal rights, it is just better rights than what they have now.

The Flyers at Knoebels

Obviously not. They don't have any kind of sexual reproduction. And actually, humans have adapted and mutated to be able to breakdown meats and other milks. We originally were just able to be able to breakdown our own milk. He had it pretty much right.

Eh, yes and no. I understand your point about that behavior being odd, but humans evolved to have a trait that helps digest another animal's milk. Lactose intolerant people do not have this. We got this way due to a mutation, and it was favorable in the conditions that it happened in, so that's why we can and do drink milk of other animals. Right, but we weren't like this naturally, thus, we had to adapt and were never truly intended to eat meat and drink their milk and what have you.

Would you care to break it down then? I'm not trying to be a jerk, just curious. By Mr Friedrich himself. Meat, dairy, and egg products are making people sick. In fact, they are ruining our later years and killing us. They have absolutely no fiber or complex carbohydrates in them, and they are packed with saturated fat and cholesterol. In the short term, eating meat, dairy products, and eggs is likely to make a person fat and lethargic. In the long term, eating these products can cause heart disease, cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, and an array of other problems. I’d like to make a couple of points about human physiology, and then I’ll talk about the link between animal products and a few of the worst health scourges plaguing North Americans. It’s amazing how many seemingly intelligent people, to justify their meat-eating, open their mouths, point at their teeth, and say something about “canines” as a means of defending a habit that is ecologically devastating, cruel to animals, and likely to kill them. Leaving aside how different human “canines” are from the canine teeth of carnivores (I really wonder if these people have ever even looked at the long, dagger-like canines of a dog or tiger), every natural carnivore has an array of other physiological properties that do not mirror ours. For example, unlike humans, all natural meat-eaters, such as dogs and rats, manufacture their own vitamin C, whereas we need to consume vitamin C in fruits and vegetables; true carnivores perspire through their tongues rather than through their skin; natural meat-eaters have sharp, pointy front teeth, sharp and jagged molars, and a tooth-bone density many times greater than that of humans, which enables them to crunch through the bones of their prey; carnivores have no digestive enzymes in their saliva at all, and their digestive acids are many times more acidic than those of humans, so the bacteria from rotting flesh won’t kill them; natural meat-eaters have jaws that move only vertically, instead of in a grinding motion as ours do, and they don’t chew their food—they just rip and swallow; carnivores have claws to rip their prey apart instead of sensitive fingers for plucking; they have an intestinal tract only three times their body length to eject rotting flesh quickly; and natural meat-eaters never develop atherosclerosis, no matter how much saturated fat and cholesterol they consume—this is the disease that kills almost as many human beings in the industrialized world as all other causes of death combined. And the list of physiological differences between people and natural meat-eaters goes on and on. But let’s also think about natural behaviors. How many of us salivate at the idea of chasing a small animal, ripping her limb from limb, and then devouring her, blood and all? I hope that no one listening has that reaction, but every carnivore does. How many of us, if we’re walking down the street and see an animal carcass on the road, think, “Mmmmmm ... I’d like to eat that!”? No. We think, “Oh, how sad,” or, “Blech.” Every single carnivore, if hungry, digs in. Yes, human beings learned, “Hey, if we kill all the bacteria with fire, this stuff probably won’t kill us.” And a long time ago, when there was no vegetation for us, we started eating meat. BUT it’s still not good for us, and in fact it’s so bad for us that it kills many of us. As I said, I adopted a vegan diet in 1987 At the time, I was running cross country, and when I dropped meat and dairy products from my diet, my 10k time plummeted from about 46 or 47 minutes down to between 42 and 43 minutes. Basically, when I stopped forcing my body to expend so much energy processing saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein, I had more energy, my metabolism sped up, I dropped a few pounds that I didn’t even know I had, and I got faster. I also found that I needed less sleep, had far more energy, and felt happier, just in general. Of course, I am not unique. Vegans are always telling me that they need less sleep and less coffee and have more energy than they ever had before. They also tell me that their newfound energy has made them happier. Dr. T. Colin Campbell is one of the world’s foremost epidemiological scientists and director of what The New York Times called “the most comprehensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease.” Dr. Campbell’s studies have shown that, as he puts it, “the vast majority of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and other forms of degenerative illness can be prevented simply by adopting a plant-based diet.” Let’s touch on heart disease first. Heart disease kills almost as many people in North America as all other causes of death combined. Up until about 15 years ago, it was assumed that as people get older, their arteries inevitably become clogged. If you didn’t get hit by a bus or die of cancer or something, your arteries would eventually close, causing either your brain or your heart to give out, and that would be it. Enter Dr. Dean Ornish, who has since proven that 100 percent of heart attacks from clogged arteries—and again, this is by far the developed world’s biggest killer—that 100 percent are preventable. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn has replicated Dr. Ornish’s findings, taking patients who were suffering from clogged arteries and making them “heart attack proof” (to quote Dr. Esselstyn in the August 1999 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology) by getting their cholesterol levels down below 150. In fact, the average vegan cholesterol level is about 133, while the average vegetarian cholesterol level is 161. And the average meat-eater’s cholesterol level is 210. Although the medical establishment may say “Well, you’ve done your best,” at 210, people are still dropping like flies. As Dr. Charles Attwood pointed out, this is insane: If people were being run down by trucks at the same rate that they’re dying from meat-and-dairy-induced heart attacks, something would be done. And the same is true for cancer. There is complete scientific unanimity: As much cancer is caused by diet as is caused by smoking, which is a lot! And it is also completely clear how we can prevent cancer. The World Cancer Research Fund, the American Cancer Society, and the Royal Cancer Society in Britain—all organizations that study the issue agree that as many cases of cancer are caused by diet as are caused by smoking, and all of them make the same top-two recommendations for preventing cancer: Eat more plant-based foods, and eat fewer animal-based foods. In other words, “go vegan.” According to Dr. William Castelli, chair of the Nutrition Department at Harvard Medical School and the researcher who has directed the longest-running clinical trial in history, “A low-fat, plant-based diet would … lower the cancer rate 60 percent.” Just to be clear, it’s not the fat and cholesterol that cause cancer; it’s the animal protein. The fat and cholesterol cause heart disease; the animal protein causes cancer. Dr. T. Colin Campbell states that “human studies also support this carcinogenic effect of animal protein, even at usual levels of consumption … no chemical carcinogen is nearly so important in causing human cancer as animal protein.” But what about milk? That the dairy industry has succeeded in selling people on this nonsense—that cow’s milk is good for them—is truly remarkable and a tribute to the power of pouring money into advertising. But no one tries to defend milk-drinking as natural, because what could be less natural than one species’ decision to consume the mammary secretions of another species? It’s not as if nature made a mistake—dog mothers’ milk for puppies; kangaroo mothers’ milk for kangaroos; rat mothers’ milk for baby rats; cow mothers’ milk for calves … oh, hey, wait a minute! Let’s use cow mammary secretions for human beings also, including grown-up ones who shouldn’t be drinking any mothers’ milk at their age anyway. Of course not. Nevertheless, the dairy industry would have us believe that consuming its products will protect and even build your bones. The fact is, however, that clinical and population evidence shows us otherwise. For example, in the areas of the world where people consume the most dairy products, you find the highest rates of osteoporosis. Please check out PETA’s Web site DumpDairy.com to learn all about the link between meat and dairy consumption and osteoporosis. What dairy researchers do to spin the results of studies would make George Orwell proud, but in the end, it is obvious that the dairy industry is profit-driven and that it will sacrifice our health in a heartbeat in order to make more money. Recently, there has been a lot of commotion about the fact that kids are getting fatter. One culprit is the soft drink industry, which is signing contracts with school systems to have its products given prominent placement. The dairy industry saw the prospect of a serious payday if it could challenge the soda dominance in schools. So what did the industry introduce? A product with even more sugar than sodas and more than twice the calories—460 calories in one bottle, and 16 grams of fat to boot! That’s almost as much fat as in a McDonald’s “Happy Meal,” and this is just a beverage. Dairy products are a prescription for obesity, heart disease, lethargy, and a host of other problems. That the dairy industry would actually claim to be doing kids a favor is morally revolting. On the other hand, vegetarians are one-third as likely to be obese as meat-eaters, and vegans are about one-tenth as likely to be obese. You can be a fat vegan, of course, and you can be a skinny meat-eater. But vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 percent lighter than meat-eaters. Anyone who has questions about this might want to review Dr. Neal Barnard’s Food for Life or Dr. Dean Ornish’s Eat More: Weigh Less. Finally, because many people do care more about quality of life than about longevity, let’s look at sex. Vegans tend to be much lighter than ovo-lacto vegetarians and meat-eaters, and they tend to have more energy, need less sleep, and so on. Clearly, these aspects of veganism can be good for a person’s sex life. But clogged arteries will block the blood flow to your extremities before they cut off the blood to your heart and kill you. This results in poor circulation and, for guys, impotence. And while we’re on the subject, it’s worth noting that many cholesterol-cutting drugs have, as one of their side effects, reduced sexual desire and potency. Toss out the Viagra; a vegan diet is natural Viagra. All of this analysis applies to fish flesh as well as to other animal products: Fish flesh also has no fiber or complex carbohydrates and is packed with cholesterol. Fish are also frequently laden with heavy metals or other contaminants from the water in which they swim. We’ve all heard the warnings about high mercury levels in fish and how pregnant women shouldn’t consume fish; well, if it’s not good for pregnant women, it can’t be good for anyone else, either. According to the U.S. Government Accounting Office, or GAO, inadequate regulations mean that unsafe, contaminated, and spoiled fish often end up on our nation’s grocery shelves. In fact, 15 percent of all food-borne illnesses in the U.S. are caused by contaminated fish, even though fish represents only a small fraction of the total food consumed. Some fish flesh is offered for sale without having been inspected even once, and even where FDA oversight applies, according to the GAO, many inspections consist of no more than paperwork, and even serious violations rarely result in a consumer alert. Really, there is nothing good about fish flesh. The one thing we hear about is the cholesterol-lowering properties of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, but one finds Omega 3’s and 6’s in many vegan foods as well, like flaxseed oil. Besides, if your cholesterol level is below 150—and remember that the average vegan level is 133—you’d make Ripley’s Believe It or Not if you had a heart attack. All this discussion is about animal products when they’re at their best, that is, organic. But most animal products are packed full of antibiotics, dioxins, and food-borne pathogens like E. Coli, salmonella, and campylobacter. Millions of people get sick each year from eating contaminated meat, especially chicken and sea animals, and thousands die. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, meat and dairy consumers are taking in 22 times the acceptable level of dioxins in their food. Ninety-five percent of dioxin exposure comes from consuming meat, dairy, or egg products. The other 5 percent is environmental; virtually none comes from consuming vegan foods. If you care about your health, if you want to live with as much vigor as possible, look as good as possible, and do as much good as possible, it would be wise to move toward adopting a vegan diet. That's just the biological stuff but the article found here http://www.goveg.com/veganism.asp covers all sorts of things like environment, etc. It's several pages.

Alright, I didn't want to go this route but, is it natural for a human to have sex with a cow? Would be be able to reproduce with a cow or other animal? No. Why would we drink its milk?

It is a cultural thing when it comes what animals are eatten. In China they eat dogs and cats and actually have pigs as companion animals. The United States tried to stop what they saw as obscene behavior because we as Americans have dogs and cats as companions and, instead, eat pork. The United States made a big deal about it, and in return the Prime Minister of China said something to the effect of "If you stop killing pigs, then we might consider what you have to say." I thought that was pretty much brilliant and exactly what I would of said if I were in his situation. Many studies have been done with pigs over the years and have found that pigs are much more intelligent than dogs. Pigs actually are equivalent to a 4 year old human in terms of brain capacity and understanding. I talked to a young boy at a fair a couple of weeks ago who was taking care of his pigs that he had for show and asked him how smart he thought his pigs were, and I also through in the 4 year old thing. He looked at me and disagreed. "They are at least 10." Sorry about the little tangent, but yes, it is all cultural. Next, do you really think it is natural to drink the milk of another animal? Cows milk is for baby cows. Goats milk is for baby goats. Human milk is for baby humans. And so on and so on. Sure, I have to admit that I still eat cheese from time to time. As I had mentioned, I just love pizza way to damn much. But just think of what it takes to make cheese. There is puss and mucus in that stuff. Milk is extremely high in saturated fat also and overall really isn't as healthy as thought to be. The high protein in milk actually leaches calcium from bones, the complete opposite of what is believed. And to tell you the truth, I'm kind of starting to believe that we really aren't carnivores by nature. http://www.vegsource.com/articles/archive.htm

Damn. I guess that means that I wasn't able to send him an email. Does that mean that I'm banned now?

I use "better" in terms of "better" for the animals. I'm sorry if the use of the word "offended" you. I wasn't talking to you

Ah, I'm sorry to jump the gun on that. I didn't read it correctly. I will give you credit where credit is due. I still don't think you should freak out about this though. It is just business. It's something that I don't like either, but I have come to accept.