matt1122

Trump is far more qualified to run a monarchy than a democracy. 

In respect of my wife, Gabapentin/Neurontin caused her to black out several times within the first few days of use.

Going back a little to the opiates situation and medical marijuana, there are a lot of unknowns with opiates. My wife has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder which causes intractable pain. Wikipedia defines intractable pain as "a severe, constant pain that is not curable by any known means and which causes a bed or house-bound state and early death if not adequately treated, usually with opioids and/or interventional procedures." She was on very high doses of several opiates and was having myoclonic seizures (random convulsions of the limbs and sometimes an arched back) for which no cause could be found. For a normal person, these kinds of seizures would be no big deal. For someone with her condition, they cause her increased pain. We thought it was the drugs, but the doctors said "seizures are not a side effect of ____." When we took her off the drugs for other reasons, the seizures stopped and they have not returned. She also went from 178 to 146 lbs in the 9 months that have passed since she was on such high doses, all weight which she gained while she was on those medications. I believe she also developed a rare condition in which opiates actually cause hypersensitivity to pain, known as opiate-induced hyperalgesia. When she came off the meds, her pain did in fact decrease until she experienced new injuries as a result of the connective-tissue nature of her condition. Now she is back on opiates, but in lower doses. She has regular "interventions" such as nerve ablations and other anesthesic treatments which don't help - in fact anesthesia in general causes increased and debilitating pain for days following because of how it relaxes the soft tissues. 

And in general, these medications are also simply not "safe." The risk is low, but if a metabolic anomaly occurs (if you get food poisoning, for example, and you end of vomiting and the acid and enzyme concentration in the stomach is altered resulting in unusual metabolising of your medications and possible loss of the medication during vomiting), they can cause sudden death even in long term users with no side effects as a suddenly much higher dose is rapidly metabolized. Furthermore, you just puked out your guts. Guess what - you lost that dose and its not safe to take another. If it's an immediate release, you're probably going to hurt even worse as you go through that stomach illness, and that's on top of the pain from retching. 

Medical Marijuana, if it worked, would be a godsend. Many people with her condition report that it helps. Insurance not covering it is a major problem, and that will be the case until it is fully and properly legalized and approved for treatment of pain like hers. It would cost us over $500 just to get her a MMJ card, hundreds of dollars every month for doctors appointments to get prescriptions and maintain the card, plus the cost of MMJ is considerably higher than the street cost of MJ. Non-medical is not the same, however - different strains have different properties. Like opiates, those that are best for recreational use are not the best for treating pain. Even among MMJ, there are many strains that work differently for different people with different conditions to provide varying degrees of relief for each individual. 

But MMJ is not the only war on drugs concern. There have been times when it took me upwards of 6 hours to find a pharmacy that could provide her prescription. Pharmacies have turned us away from fear of DEA enforcement. When we had to take her off cold turkey and she had to go through withdrawal, it was because she couldn't just go see another pain doctor for a little while - jumping between pain doctors can also trigger DEA enforcement and get you on a list which will make it impossible to be prescribed opiates again. 

But it doesn't end there. This fear of addiction is unreasonable. Some people are prone to addiction - others can safely use opiates for years without ever becoming even slightly addicted. People confuse addiction with physical dependence. People don't want to take opiates out of fear put in them by the FDA and DEA which is unreasonable when you take into account the pain they are in. Some doctors overprescribe, and that's a problem. Others won't prescribe as they should because of fear or misunderstanding. Families want and convince their loved ones not to take medications they NEED out of fear and misunderstanding. Some people need to carefully organize their pills in a Mon-Fri style pill box to avoid accidentally overdosing, but if they leave their prescription bottles at home they could be handcuffed and imprisoned, in their disabled and pain-ridden state, due to ridiculous law enforcement policies and the laws themselves. And it's all a product of the war on drugs.  

TL;DR The war on drugs is a major problem for people with chronic pain, and it affects them in ways most people don't even realize. 

Regan and Carter can actually be seen either way. Popular opinion is Regan was good, Carter was bad.

Trickle down economics are not the entirety of Regan's presidency, though. 

The superdelegate situation is interesting. 

Honestly, they need to be voting based upon whether they believe Hillary can defeat Trump. That is the metric for which they were created.

I don't know whether that is the case or not. I have doubts people who lean slightly towards the left will show up on election day for Clinton vs. Trump. In fact, I think you're more likely to have people who lean right show up to vote AGAINST Hillary Clinton. 

People I know who always talk about politics told me it would never come down to Clinton vs. Trump when I called that in 2012. And here we are. I have no idea what is going to happen if those two are in the general election, but I do know that we're not going to have a good presidency in the years that follow. 

Lol, hey the car is driving straight at me let me just stand in its way...

According to Jalopnik, they were trying to demonstrate pedestrian detection. On a car that didn't have pedestrian detection.

I've seen it labeled an "automated parking" demonstration, too, which even if it was right would be the driver's fault. The driver completely manages the gas and brake when using the Park Assist Pilot function.  

Someone passed by on the other side of 280 today in Newark around 5:45 - 6:00 in a white 850 with a non-OEM grill and non-OEM wheels. Didn't have time to see what else was done. You were going eastbound, I was stuck in traffic going westbound.

What does "Reserved - Snow Route" mean?

According to a few posts on Reddit about this, she was on a special preserve and people pay to put down sick and other animals which need to be eliminated from the population for stability reasons. I'm not sure how true this is, though.

They should really just ban everyone from driving except for me and people who drive like me.

P2 V70 R driving down observer highway in Hoboken today, around 2:30PM.

I was at da car wash and watched you drive by. Car looked nice. :tup:

Sorry to see you were getting surprise buttsecks from a Camry.

It's okay, XC's always have protection.

I miss my giant plastic bumpers.

Powerebelaser Sonic Blue S60 R AWD on 280W last night in traffic, I don't think he cared.

It could have been a special effect black with a blue refraction or something, now that I think about it. It looked a little darker than Magic Blue. It was a soft top btw.

In either Kearny or Harrison NJ today, dark blue C70 convertible with dual exhaust (twin tips on each side), black mesh grill with R emblem, dark glossy possibly chromed Canistos, dark tint, possibly lowered, very well cared for. This anyone?

What's valid and what will get votes are two different things, though. How many people vote based on who they think can magically fix the economy?

We need a reborn republican party, really. Can't have the left running everything, but the current GOP is terrible.

Rand Paul can't win a nomination. The Life at Conception Act alone will crush any aspirations he has ever had for higher office, and he's done far too much more than that to piss off moderates.

"CC" is in an interesting position. If he did know about these things, he's done. If he didn't, he's probably still done because it puts to question how he's going to run a white house if he can't control a state administration. On the other hand, this is greatly increasing his national recognition. He's big news. If he somehow spins this around, somehow, he could easily run and win the Republican nomination. Don't forget - people are fed up with a president who tip toes around and tries to make every play nice. If Christie somehow convinces people that he's able to get things done and can make things happen... well... I highly doubt it will happen, but worth thinking about.

Honestly, people will pay "too much" for a used Volvo if you give them the chance. Especially if it is like-new.

Well we'd be able to spend all the poor peoples' education tax dollars on educating rich kids instead!

Yeah, and if there were fewer children but we spent the same amount on education would our education system be better?

Just some food for thought:

Around here, rent for a decent (non-luxury) one or two bedroom 1,000 square foot apartment starts around $1,500. Two parents and a kid could probably really make that work. That comes to $18,000 a year. It's generally viewed that housing should account for about a third of your annual income expenditure, which means to afford a two bedroom 1,000 square foot apartment and live comfortably you should be making $54,000 (gross, before taxes). To have two people working a 40-hour week and make this much, minimum wage would have to be about $13 / hour. That being the case, $13 / hour seems like the right starting point, followed by adjustment for inflation. However, $15 / hour would put one person working a 40-hour work week at $31,200. That only provides for $858 rent, and what's that going to get you? And how are you going to feed that kid?

Also, what about the minimum working age? Should a 16-year old who lives at home and has all of his expenses paid by mom and dad be making $13 / hour? Or should we make them prove that they are providing for themselves and or their family to make that same minimum wage? And what about elder dependents? Is $13 / hour going to allow someone to care for them?

Yada yada yada, our economy is horribly broken. Thank capitalism.

So here is my take on the subject.

1. ARD ME7 tunes are not bad because they are "off the shelf" but because they are BAD.

2. I want to applaud everyone who took the time to post up details of maps and even a easy explanation to why they are bad to people who have not dealt with ME7

3. I find it interesting that ARD doesn't even attempt to fix or explain the situation. No, they are in the wrong and know it.

4. The other interesting factoid is that its not just tunes that ARD seems to be having problems with lately a number of other products have been lacking.

5. I think this is a perfect example of the old adage "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink"

6. The thing I want you guys to take away from my post is this.. '>

7. I think its a shame that people would rather try to dis-credit this information then to hold a vendor accountable.

When did ARD start selling ME7 tunes? I seem to remember them delaying a long time on it. Are there earlier model tunes still a different story? As I've heard over and over again for the past few years that they were great?

You need to update your Location in your profile, yo. Not just your crew.

Saw about 30-40 Volvo's all parked together in a lot by "Jewish Home for the Elderly" in Rockleigh, NJ. Is this anyone here?

Titanium Gray S60, debadged, FMIC, stickers, probably other stuff I didn't see at the time - Rt 10 in East Hanover today. License plate said DEM LOL, had a euro plate behind it.