Another discussion area?

[Bird]

Scruffy, my ISP does offer ISDN (whatever that is) according to their home page, but I haven't talked to them about it because I didn't know it would work on these antique phone lines (and mainly because they charge over twice as much for it). Verizon (formerly GTE, SW) two months ago sold our telephone exchange, along with a lot of others, to a brand new company, Valor Telecom, which says it's going to do all kinds of wonderful upgrades in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, but I'm not real optimistic about it being done in my lifetime.

Bird

 

[bpence]

Larry, I agree with your thoughts on not wanting to be a crusader, but like you I have been involved in helping a lot of folks who have been injured in one way or another. I was an EMT in another life and rode the emergency trucks for several years. One of the tougher rides was to help my next door neighbor who had "jumped" from his 8N as it started down a hill out of control. The tractor ran over his leg and the back blade dragged him down the hill a ways, breaking a few additional bones and causing some pretty severe trauma. I guess this was an accident that combined both inexperience and carelessness and resulted in someone who was lucky to come out mostly in one piece.

Maybe that's part of the reason I have this thing about always talking about safe operation and taking a few extra minutes to make sure you have thought through what you are going to do. I also grew up on a dairy farm and quickly learned the hazards of working on and around farm equipment. Even with advances in shielding, safety interlocks, warning labels etc., operating tractors and related equipment still involves substantial risk. The only way to keep that risk from turning into an accident is to operate carefully, thoughtfully, and above all safely.

OK, enough with the soapbox.

Bob Pence