Specter
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Posts posted by Specter
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Well said 300. And I truly hope you are enjoying those steps now, secure in the knowledge that you helped make their world a better place by your service, and for that, I also owe you a debt of gratitude.
Although they are not the first steps, your service ensured that they would have many more steps for you to be there for.
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Once again, Hear Hear Warhawk.
There are many good views and valid points. But I'm with you. IF they cant help with the entire job, why should they get the credit for the rebuild, which they would, when it's our blood fertilizing their freedom along with British Blood, and Aussie Blood and Iraqi blood?
They want to parade, they should sweat and bleed a little like the rest of us.
The allies and the Iraqis paid a very high price for this. Why should the French get the parades and the credit , especially when its a proven fact that they were backdooring everyone for the past 12 years?
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And as an American, also let me say that I am damn PROUD to be part of a nation that would come running to help, and die if necessary, if anyone of the countries you lived in needed us.
Yes, our politicians may have ulterior motives. All politicians do, I dont care what country you are from. But let me say this. We in America are not required to join the military. We join because its our choice. And while our politicians may have ulterior motives, most Americans do not.
We join because we want to carry on the tradition of fighting for peace and freedom, and because we may get the opportunity in doing so to make someone's life, like the Iraqi's a free one.
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@weeboz:
American ignorance? Who is getting insulting now? You chastised me once for using your age to debate a point with you. I apologized, because I was clearly wrong. You are the one who is getting clearly insulting now.
Now let me point something out to you. You suscribe to the whole "One World Government " theory, and thats fine. You are entitled to.
But dont assume the rest of us are ignorant just because we dont want anything to do with it.
You also mentioned "American Bravado and a disrespectful view of non - America. Not true for everyone, but we have all set here and listened to the world, and in some heated cases here, non-Americans' disrespectful view of America. But funny you didnt mention that little tidbit.
You mentioned also that you are starting to disrespect SZ's rhetoric. Well, I am starting to disrespect yours, as you are doing in your post's exactly what you jumped on him for. It's starting to make me wonder if I wasnt right on about the age thing. I'd like to not think so.
We have sat here and seen first hand in this war, where at least one European country is guilty of backdooring the resolutions that they wanted in place.(The French), So yes, there is going to be just a bit of prejudice there. The countries' politics are being thrashed, not you personally.
As WK said, this is an open forum, where all are allowed to express their opinions. But getting insulting and border line flaming, when not total flaming, is unacceptable.
What makes all of us free is the right we have to express our views.
We Americans live in America because we dont want anything to do with socialism, and most of us dont want anything to do with a one world government. If we did, we are free to leave and go live where that form of government is popular. We live in America because we dont want it, and in fact, came to America because we want to live the way we do. Also, you must remember that they call America the melting pot, because most of America emmigrated from other places, mostly Europe, I might add, because they also want to live the way we do.
Right now, yes, Americans are a little distrustful of Europe, because they, with the exception of Britain, wouldnt help solve the problem that they have been helping create and in fact actually hindered it. then added insult to injury by cheering from the sidelines after badmouthing us for the past 6 weeks.. But it is not a personal insult against weeboz or anyone on this forum.
Now, as I have said before, debating and tearing arguments apart is one thing. Tearing apart and flaming individuals is totally unacceptable. Yes, there was a time or two in the past when I came close or inadvertantly did it in the heat of the argument, but I have apologized to each of those people, you included.
The post to SZ was just a little too close to an outright insult.
We all know what 90% of Europe's view of America is, yet you dont chastise your fellow countrymen for having that view.
What is great about all of us being from such diverse backgrounds is we can learn from each other, and share our views. But we can do it without flaming or insults.
Please, everyone, tone down the personal insults and flaming before the threads are shutdown. This is one of the best websites I've ever seen, where you can actually debate with people all over the world, and for the most part, the debates are very intelligent and civil.
I know I'm not on the staff or anything, but can we all tone down the personal stuff in the forums? Save the personal anger and insults for email or PM's? OR better yet, just come up with well thought out, intelligent counters to the arguments. Thats the best way to sway opinion.
I am now stepping off of my soapbox, and want to say that I hope I have not personally insulted anyone with this post.
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More like, "Cant live with 'em, cant shoot 'em!"
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And I must say that it is a damn good thing that we did rush in. Who knows how much more dangerous Sadaam would have been in 6 months or a year.
Lets face it. The UN, the EU, with the exception of the UK, and Russia, all buried their heads in the sand, or, what I believe, at least of Russia, and the EU, that they were making backdoor deals, and didnt want it brought to light.
We found out about their major cash machine, and now that that has happened, they are cheering Sadaam's fall to cover their ass.
After all, it has been proven, many times I might add, that France and Russia have been selling that animal weapons during the embargos.
I say they need to sit back on the sidelines, and continue to mismanage their own countries, and keep their nose out of the middle east until they can start taking a little responsibility for their own actions.
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Hear Hear !!! Warhawk ! !
We are all safer with them on the sidelines where we can watch them, especially with these new developments coming to light, that some of us saw from the beginning, but were chastised for voicing, by people who said they knew the French.
Well, I think we all have a much clearer picture of them now, dont we?
The Russians were a foregone conclusion. They are so broke that they will sell their surplus to anyone who is waving cash.
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Youre right guys. He did inherit the current money problem. But lets face it, the Republican's dont have a great track record with domestic policy.
But I have to admit, when it comes to foreign policy, and it's time to break out and flash cajones, the republicans are superbly good at it.
I just hope that Bush sees this, and does something for our economy as well, and tries to handle some domestic issues, which, lets face it, the republicans arent real famous for handling.
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I just cannot believe this is happening ! !
After all the E.U. has said that we had no cause to go into Iraq! I guess they lied to us, big surprise there, huh?
They said there were no WMD's. And now weapons grade plutonium turns up?
Well, I dont really think that the Israelis gave it to them, and we didnt give it to them. Hmmmmmmmm.....That narrows the list considerably.
And I dont think the North Koreans gave it to them. So who then? There are only 2 possible choices left.
France, in which case I say 'it figures', or Russia, who is so hard up for cash it's not funny.
I guess now the truth comes out. Just like I said in an earlier post, the French and the Russians didnt get on board because we were blowing the hell out of their number one cash cow, and they didnt like it.
Its also real funny now how Chirac says he is glad Sadaam's regime fell.
Yeah, RIIIIIIIIGHT ! !!
And I SO believe them too ! !
NOT ! !
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Yeah.....and with all of these troubles seeming to get resolved, and in fact if they are resolved or making teriffic progress, guess who we will be stuck with for president for another 4 years? There goes the economy .
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Its horse s--t. THey just want in now that all the dirty work has been done by someone else. Screw 'em.
They want back in semi good graces? let them send troops to Afghanistan, or get ready to help with North Korea. But we all know that wont happen.
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I posted on this a few weeks ago. Here comes the monkey wrench was the thread I believe.
I knew NK would wait until we were tied up to do something.
300 pretty much sums it up, and I think he's also right about the Chinese.
I hope they do help out and create the win win so that we dont have to split our forces up at a crucial point in Iraq.
Right now, we have fully 1/2 of the US military in Iraq. If the Chinese dont help out on this one, guess where the other half of our forces will have to go?
That will fully tie up the US military, and that will not be a good thing. Not good for anyone.
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It turns out that as many as 30% of the food products you buy may have
come from U.S. Department of Defense innovations, including such
artery busters as M&Ms, Velveeta, Spam and the McDonald's boneless
McRib sandwich.
The list also includes Freeze-dried coffee, freeze-dried soup mixes
and retort packaging (plastic pouches that keep food shelf-stable for
years).
Now under development:
· Shelf-stable pocket sandwich that can last three years without
refrigeration
· A food sterilizer that uses surplus howitzer tubes to pressurize
food to 120,000 pounds per square inch, rupturing bacteria membranes.
· Using electricity to kill bacteria
· "Forward osmosis" to turn muddy swamp water into an "energy-boosting
sports drink"
· Compression technique that can fit three servings of chicken, rice
and bean stew into a half-pint milk carton
· A cooker that uses no open flames, and
· Meal packs that self-heat at the same time they cool desserts and
drinks.
San Francisco Chronicle 7-Apr-03
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/04/07/MN3024
46.DTL&type=printable>
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@Yoda
I'm with ya on the same page, bud. As I have stated many times, I cant stand Bush, and it's not him I defend in my posts, it's the office of the President of the greatest country in the world.
The list is long, and extremely frightening, but America is capable, as is the UK and all our allies, of going shopping and crossing each item off that list.
Ya know, in 1991, my heart actually swelled a bit, when the entire world got on board. The entire world saw the problem, and wanted to change things.
What the hell happened? What's the difference between then and now?
I dont see it.
I am not the sharpest tool in the drawer about everything, but I am certainly not the dullest. What changed, except that things got worse? It still affects the entire world the same way. Whats the difference between then and now?
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The Anglo-American alliance wins again
By Martin Walker
UPI Chief International Correspondent
From the International Desk
Published 4/7/2003 5:28 AM
View printer-friendly version
BASRA, Iraq, April 7 (UPI) -- The rule of Saddam Hussein is over. Iraq's capital of Baghdad awoke Monday to find American tanks in the grounds of the presidential palace and the second city of Basra thrilled to their first full day of freedom from Saddam's Ba'athist regime.
This double triumph of American and British military machines could hardly have been better timed, as U.S. President George W. Bush and Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair prepared for their summit in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Their war plan vindicated, their critics at least briefly silenced, the two English-speaking leaders who had defied so much of world opinion and conventional wisdom enjoyed another extraordinary bonus as their predictions of a liberator's welcome by the Iraqi people finally came true.
Confounding the Arab media and the pundits who had talked darkly of a new spirit of Iraqi patriotism resisting the invaders, the people of Basra braved gunfire to dance in the streets and cheer for the British troops who finally broke the grip Saddam's dreadful regime had exerted on Iraq for so long. This reporter saw one Basra citizen even kiss a British tank.
Iraq, the Middle East and -- if they so choose -- a new world order is now for Bush and Blair to define. The world's enduring, and only reliable military alliance has done it again. Or rather, the world's two best militaries delivered the outcome their political masters ordained, and did so with minimal friendly and civilian casualties.
But as Bush and Blair hail the magnificent achievements of their troops Monday, there are some small and familiar but ominous clouds on the horizon. Each man will have been delivered briefing books by his respective staff on the new post-war challenges. There will be fat tomes on relations with Russia's prickly President Putin, with France and Germany and that curiously named entity the European Union, a body which seems designed to illustrate that traditional Texan description "all hat and no cattle."
The two men also have to agree on the governance of postwar Iraq and the role of the United Nations, that body which reacted to its first real post-Cold War crisis by reverting to Cold War-style division and immobility.
All of these issues boil down to one overwhelming question -- what does the Anglo-American alliance now do with a world that so dislikes what is good for it?
It is very odd. The Americans and British stand for a world based on a handful of principles that have stood the tests of time: representative and democratic government; free speech and free press; free economies, free trade; human rights and the rule of law.
And the verdict of our times is already in. Those countries and regions that have embraced these core principles, from Japan to Western Europe, from South Korea to India, have seen their people prosper beyond any dreams possible in the wreckage of 1945. Middle Eastern countries that try the same medicine may in the not so distant future look back on this seedbed year of 2003 with a similar complacency.
And yet so many of the beneficiaries of the Anglo-American principles that defined, protected and enriched the West after 1945 evidently resent their benefactors. Throughout the grim diplomatic weeks before the Iraqi war began, the U.N. became a conspiracy of anti-Anglophones, conspiring to frustrate the best efforts of Washington and London to make U.N. resolutions actually mean something
There are two big questions for Bush and Blair to tackle in Belfast Monday. Why should this be? And does it matter?
And there is one simple answer. Stick to the Anglo-American principles that have worked. If other countries and institutions want to cooperate for their own good, fine. They deserve all the help and support that world's only two serious powers can provide. If they don't, that is their problem. The Anglo-American principles are too proven in their success to be compromised for any passing diplomatic comfort or advantage.
And build on success. The Anglo-American alliance, based on principles, political will, and a mutual loyalty and trust unique among nations, has once more proved its value. Strengthen it further, by allowing British and American -- and Australian -- citizens to live and work and study and trade in one another's countries at will. In everything that maters, they comprise a single culture, and Blair and Britain should be rethinking their "European vocation' with that plain fact firmly in mind.
If Bush and Blair should mark one small regret about the double liberation of Baghdad and Basra, it is the seizure by U.S. tanks of the Ministry of Information in Baghdad. The end of the daily antics of the Minister, Mohammad Said al- Sahhaf, the Baghdad Blowhard, is a sad loss. He provided comic relief throughout the 19-day war. Silence may now befall the man who produced a timeless comic masterpiece in his wondrous response to the capture of Baghdad airport -- "We have them where we want them -- surrounded and doomed."
War crimes trials permitting, this man has a future on Comedy Central -- or maybe Madison Avenue. After all, one of the many things that Anglo-American alliance has in common, to the bafflement of much of the rest of the world, is a sense of humor.
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Most of the probs I am having are with GR and R6 Raven Shield. No trouble anywhere else, so far. Knock Knock.
Hey Rook,
Thanks for the info, I really appreciate your help, bud. I'll give those things a shot and let ya know.
And just keep tellin myself, 90 days, 90 days, 90 days !!! lol
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Exactly right, Yoda. It wont. I posted that also. In fact, it is going to get extremely ugly before it gets better, and it will not be a quick process either, but a long, and I suspect, painful one before it is done.
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The rectangle things up by the front site would be the bayonet mount. The rectangle things on the back by the butt stock would be the bolt, If I am thinking of what you are.
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He sums it up nicely. I remember every one of those incidents, except the one in 1979, but that was a very bad year for me. I spent 6 months of it in bed and hospital.
Anyway, hes right. There is no debate here for this particular post. It is all there in black and white, and I think even the best of the debaters here would be hard pressed to find an argument.
Fortunately though, America has finally waken up.
Terrorists and extremists, look out. The Alarm has gone off and there is no snooze button.
@BKRiley,
What took so long?
Our military was unprepared, just like he said, because America thought that terrorism was something that happened to other countries. That no one would ever dare attack the US , here or abroad.
The other thing is, if you go back to '79, even '83, the US was too worried about world opinion, so we looked the other way, not wanting to risk our oil interests over there. The world's attitude was, and to some extent still is, 'its been happening to us for years', and we do nothing, why should you'? Except for Israel, who for the most part, ignored world opinion, and was ready for the attacks, and handled them.
For so long, America was one of two major super powers in the world, and now we are pretty much the super power. I am a very proud American, and would have it no other way, but in always having been the big kid on the block, or one of two big kids, the US grew lax, and arrogant, assuming no one would ever attack us, and the govt didnt look at these terrorists acts as countries attacking the US, but rather crimes to be handled by law enforcement, with 2 exceptions. The Marine Barracks in 1983, and the World Trade Center in 2001.
The trouble is, now that America has waken up, the world, with a few exceptions , doesnt like it.
Most of Europe also has been treating terrorism like a crime, not an act of war, which it most certainly is. Instead of taking it right back to the source of terrorism with military force and sending a very strong message that terrorism IS an act of war, and will be dealt with in the harshest way possible, and send the message that this is a zero tolerance offense, and these countries need to reign in their lunatics.
So, why are countries like France, Germany, and Canada against the war? We are getting no help in Afghanistan, and Osama is guilty of terrorism in just about every free country in the world, but the US is on our own there, handling a world problem that the world let fester into a nagging bleeding sore, by doing nothing, and by doing nothing, sent the message that what he did would be ignored. And it was, except by law enforcement, who is not equipped to handle terrorism on this scale. It is a military problem.
Almost all of Europe has been accepting the attacks of terrorism as a daily activity since the late sixties. IE the disco techs, attacks on the olympics, which the Israelis handled, because everyone else sat on thir hands and looked the otherr way.
France has been the victim of terrorist attacks for over 30 years. Why arent they helping?
Well, now America is awake, and I say it's about time ! ! This kind of activity can no longer be tolerated on any scale by humanity. It's time to end it.
We are now handling it the way we should have from the start - screw world opinion. The world doesnt have to like it, we will now take care of this, once and for all.
And no, I'm not naive enough to believe that this war, and the war in Afghanistan will instantly resolve all the problems in the Middle East, or the world's terrorism problems in one fell swoop. IT WON'T !!
But we are finally getting off our ass and doing something about it.
The war we are fighting on two fronts right now in Iraq and Afghanistan will send a very powerful message:
"The terror you visit upon us and upon innocents will be visited back upon you 1000 fold". Knock it off, or else ! !
The European Union doesnt have to help. Canada doesnt have to help. Neither of them has to like what we are doing. But at least we are doing something.
Semper Fi, everyone, and say a prayer for our boys and girls over there, for the entire coalition, because this war wont end in Iraq. Its not just a war to free Iraq, it's a war to free the world from this kind of unacceptable behavior.
And that's an ex Marines' two cents' worth.
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Ok Rook.
I need some help then.
Here is my system. I know, I know. It's off the shelf, but I'm strapped for cash for about another 90 days, so here goes.
HP Pavillion 750n
Pentium4 1.6 Ghz
512 MB PC2700 DDR
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro128 DDR, 400 Mhz DAC, 275 Mhz GProc Clock Speed
260 GB worth of Hard Drives, running on their own Power Supply
System Power supply runs only Mobo and Video Card
Agp is 4x
On the Smartgart tab of ATI Control panel, agp4x selected, fast writes on
Direct3d tab - set for custom settings, smoothvision set for performance and 2x sampling, anistropic filtering set for app preference, because if you dont, R6 Ravenshield will return a GPF and reboot your machine,Texture pref set for performance,mipmap also set for performance, wait for vert sync and trueform are off.
I have updated my Bios, am using Catalyst 3.2 drivers(although had the same results with 3.0 and 3.1, no change), DirectX9.0a, and a fresh, clean FFR of XP Pro.
Game settings for GR and Raven Shield, all are Medium, with no shadows, and low grenade smoke detail, at 800X600, 16 bit color, and Frame Rates average between 16-24 FPS.
If I set everything to high, med or low, there is no performance change. Runs the same at all detail levels.
3DMark 2001SE gives me 7200, and when I play Freelancer or Unreal Tournament, I average 60-70 FPS
Needless to say, I got no help from Ubi, not even a reply
Snakebite1967 has been tryin to help me find info. Just ask him how frustrated I am. My old GF4 MX400 64mb ddr ran faster than this card. But my other games run fine. Freelancer is a very rich game graphics wise as is Earth and Beyond, and they run great so far as I can tell.
Can you help, or can anyone?
I'm about ready to mail it back to ATI with melted Lindberger cheese on it.
Please help. This thing has gone past ###### me off, and is now starting to make me whimper. Im an ex-Marine for God's sake ! ! Marines dont whimper ! ! But this darn card is busting my Cajones ! !
Anyway, what makes me think it's the ATI Card or the ATI drivers is, I never had a lick of trouble with the Nvidia. I got 40-50 FPS on average with it.
Please help before I actually start cryin, then go nuts or totally whacko.
Thanks ! !
I have been building and configuring PC's and networks for 13 years, and this is the first time I've been so stumped, that I dont know where to go next.
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Ok Rook.
I need some help then.
Here is my system. I know, I know. It's off the shelf, but I'm strapped for cash for about another 90 days, so here goes.
HP Pavillion 750n
Pentium4 1.6 Ghz
512 MB PC2700 DDR
ATI Radeon 9000 Pro128 DDR
260 GB worth of Hard Drives, running on their own Power Supply
System Power supply runs only Mobo and Video Card
Agp is 4x
On the Smartgart tab of ATI Control panel, agp4x selected, fast writes on
Direct3d tab - set for custom settings, smoothvision set for performance and 2x sampling, anistropic filtering set for app preference, because if you dont, R6 Ravenshield will return a GPF and reboot your machine,Texture pref set for performance,mipmap also set for performance, wait for vert sync and trueform are off.
I have updated my Bios, am using Catalyst 3.2 drivers(although had the same results with 3.0 and 3.1, no change), DirectX9.0a, and a fresh, clean FFR of XP Pro.
Game settings for GR and Raven Shield, all are Medium, with no shadows, and low grenade smoke detail, at 800X600, 16 bit color, and Frame Rates average between 16-24 FPS.
If I set everything to high, med or low, there is no performance change. Runs the same at all detail levels.
3DMark 2001SE gives me 7200, and when I play Freelancer or Unreal Tournament, I average 60-70 FPS
Needless to say, I got no help from Ubi, not even a reply
Snakebite1967 has been tryin to help me find info. Just ask him how frustrated I am. My old GF4 MX400 64mb ddr ran faster than this card. But my other games run fine. Freelancer is a very rich game graphics wise as is Earth and Beyond, and they run great so far as I can tell.
Can you help, or can anyone?
I'm about ready to mail it back to ATI with melted Lindberger cheese on it.
Please help. This thing has gone past ###### me off, and is now starting to make me whimper. Im an ex-Marine for God's sake ! ! Marines dont whimper ! ! But this darn card is busting my Cajones ! !
Anyway, what makes me think it's the ATI Card or the ATI drivers is, I never had a lick of trouble with the Nvidia. I got 40-50 FPS on average with it.
Please help before I actually start cryin, then go nuts or totally whacko.
Thanks ! !
I have been building and configuring PC's and networks for 13 years, and this is the first time I've been so stumped, that I dont know where to go next.
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Amen, and Semper Fi ! !
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I say we tie him to a bed frame, strip him, and cut his d--k off, while he is staring at a medic 500 yards away, then cut him loose and let him run for the medic. It will take him about a minute and a half to bleed to death, less time if he is running with his pud stuffed in his mouth. It's a little something the Viet Cong used to do to captured soldiers as a form of torture. they would get a soldier about 500 yards away from the gate to the base and do this. Then maybe Sadaam could feel what his people have been feeling.
And lets not forget, when they bombed that so called 'Civilian neighborhood', they found an underground bunker and a series of tunnels, stashed with weapons and such.
Using his own people as human shields again. The animal is the devil in disguise, and normally I'm a live and let live type, but that is only for people. He is NOT people. He's a damn demon and needs to be wasted, long and slow.
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I'll believe it when I see it. in 1991 there were several times he was supposedly dead. Not so.
When they prove it, I'll believe it.
WEAPONS GRADE PLUTONIUM FOUND IN IRAQ!!!
in Real World Military
Posted
300, what service were you in?