So I'm looking for some new tires on my car. For those of you not in the know, I'm currently driving a 1989 Honda Accord LXi. Since it is over 16 years old and has now clocked over 205,000 miles it has some wear and tear. Unfortunately, it wasn't until this year that i realized my car is not a self perpetuating miracle machine and i have to take some effort in its upkeep besides putting gas in it. So I put on some new from breaks (not just pads mind you) with the help of my brother. Now it's onto tires. Tiresare apparently expensive. Somehow i doubt this is do to production cost. It's rubber and metal for crying out loud! So I've decided that the automotive field is much more of a racket than i ever realized. Seriously though, my brakes would have cost me over $400 if i had someone else do them, it cost me just over $100 and i was done in about 2 hours (if you don't count when i had to drive back to the store because they gave me the wrong part). Want more proof? How many mechanics are in your area? There are at least 30 automotive repair places in Valpo, not including parts stores that change batteries and such like Auto Zone. There's a lot of money to be made here and they all know it.
I've been fortunate enough to find a good place around me though and, despite my new found cynicism about the auto industry, i really like working on my car. And it is a great car. it still gets 25 MPG on average and the engine and transmission are great. It'll be a shame to put her down some day.
You know what, I never named her because i thought she was just a junker, but now i see the error of my ways. Her name will be..... Mabel. Yeah, that's nice. Mabel: its an name that says "I'm respectable, gentle, and always a lady." Well, I gotta get going now. Mabel needs a litle more steering fluid, and you know how women get when you don't get them their steering fluid (raaaaarrrrr..*fisk *fisk). But I will leave a question for anyone who visits (which I don't have any evidence of).
Is it worse to be a pacifist and wrong or a realist and right? (**note, i am not making a claim about which I believe is right or wrong)

I'm not sure I would necessarily consider those two things opposites. Of course, I think it's best to be right in your convictions, but as far as someone on the path of searching for the right answer, I think it would be better to start out a pacifist. On the subject of war, especially in the uneducated, I've seen people swing to either extreme... either to pacifism and compassion or to the love of war and cruelty. There aren't many of you "just war theory" people about, and you definitely belong to an upper echelon of reason.

By the way, where the HELL is my steering fluid? RRAAAWWWWRRRRR!!!

I should clarify that i meant realism as a theory of war. it's basically the idea that a state's only concern is self preservation. There is no such thing as a moral or immoral state so "might makes right" so to speak.

Hmm... then I am not convinced that the choices are appropriate. I'm not sure you can be a "realist" and be completely right. It seems that if the state's only concern is self preservation, then they're not going to be concerned at all for the rest of the world, something that I think is vitally important to a peaceful society. Am I misunderstanding your point?

My baby's a smarty pants. And he's hott, too. ;)

thanks for the compliments all yous peeps.