What exceptions are you referring to? I can see why a landlord might not want to rent if the marginal operating costs (janitors, maintenance, tenant improvements, security, etc.) exceed the rents. But I'm not sure what tax benefits are realized by letting the building sit vacant if there are tenants who will pay rents that exceed marginal operating expenses. I can't imagine that there are any property tax benefits, and income tax is applied only on actual income. The landlord can claim depreciation on its returns regardless of occupancy. I'm genuinely curious. Does NY have some sort tax on gross revenues (like Washington's business and occupation tax)?

Yes, a spoiler alert was definitely justified.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

that hot chick in The Crying Game is really a dude

The white whale lives

Jesus dies.

Steganography?

It's a joke. But seriously, I work in the healthcare field and have a number of gastroenterologist friends who have told me about this therapy before. One method of administration is via a nasogastric tube and, sorry here folks, but notwithstanding the physical integrity of the tubing, just knowing that pureed shit was being pumped through my nose and down my throat would cause me some significant levels of distress (or maybe not, as it appears the C. Diff. is a really crappy illness to have, pun intended).

Yeah, the whole idea kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I took a sternwheeler ride up the Columbia River last year. At some point, a bunch of guys in kayaks got behind us and rode our swell about 10 miles up river without paddling a single stroke.

However, they got into trouble when we turned around because the sternwheeler didn't have to go all that fast to get back to port on time. So the swell wasn't big enough for the kayakers to ride. They had to paddle the 10 miles back (albeit with the current).

No, OP is right. Please listen to this if you still believe otherwise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhnUgAaea4M

Political posturing for a vote the Democrats knew they would lose. If the Democrats were truly worried about the effect the FISA amendments have on our personal freedoms, they could have easily revoked them all during the first two years of Obama's presidency (when they had a solid majority in the House and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate). That they didn't make such a move shows you where they really stand on the issue.

I read through this thread hoping to see a reference to this book.

When I find an author with an intriguing plot and good writing skills (a combination that is somewhat lacking in the sci-fi genre), I generally read the book in a single sitting. This is the first book that I genuinely liked as a work of literature but nevertheless couldn't finish because I felt so fucking awful after each reading episode (I could only get through 20 or so pages at a time before I had to put it down for a break). I'll probably pick it up if only out of respect for the writing that can pull on my emotions as strongly as McCarthy's. But damn it's just brutally bleak.

How else could the IMF team snap a little doodad on the cable and magically get a high-def feed to the most sensitive parts of every building? Duh.

"An awful lot of Africa's problems would diminish if they could just disburden themselves of the thugs with the guns. It doesn't do any good to teach a man to fish if you own the lake as your own private reserve."

This comment reminded me of an article I read a while ago in the NYT that presented an interesting theory about how to avoid famines.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/01/arts/does-democracy-avert-famine.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

That again depends on the court. Here in Oregon (where I practice), a corporation that sends and attorney to small claims court without having received prior permission from the judge will get tossed from the courtroom and the attorney could potentially be sanctioned. And judges here rarely give such permission. When my employer gets sued in small claims, we generally send a non-attorney from our risk management department.

I don't know about this particular court, but in many small claims courts, parties are not allowed to be represented by counsel (even if the attorneys are in-house counsel).

I wish I had mod points for this. Thanks for the laugh.

Dude, if you get the red ray player, it's gonna die on you before the first episode is done.