OT: "Off-Topic Island"

Wow, first the Emporer, now the distinguished Doc from the mainland graces our humble abode.We the citizen(ry) of OTI are grateful and pleased we have attracted your attention.We here on OTI consider, you, Doc, to be one of the finest winter prognosticators on the mainland and we will certainly be paying the strictest attention to your coming analysis come mid October when the winter fun is just beginning to take shape.

Drop us a line now and then.

Now, back to maintenance and inspection in Sector 3 of OTI. Reports of a coconut tree demolishing the hut of a former (ahem!) citizen who goes by a handle PC, err, PCP or was it CP?

DOc,

Where has all the flowers gone? Long time ago - and PCP no CP is his call name is one of them along with SNOWMAN. I have had many run in with the locals in sector 6 and you know what sector 6 can be like! I have just gotten back to my humble abode to find three blind mice and little pigs running around! WTF is going here! The mice informed me through a translator that is the female counter to SNOW MAN an dmight I add much better looking that Parliment was disbanded by teh Great Ol' Doc and there was no one to approve this motion.

Yo can wear my crown for as long as you like this summer and then return it to me its rightful owner come Nov 1. I too liked to play King of his castle when I was a young lad but it seems more dementia to this situation at the time.

I'll check to find the report on Sector 3 and I see we have been blessed and honored by the Emperor (Frank) and his most trusted man SROC!

The roads must be in good condition for such visits!

Off to see how the mainland is hold up these days with such nice weather.

Mugsy, you made the deadline for retaining your snow crown by mere milliseconds, but made it you did! Sorry for the extreme measure in disbanding Parliament, but the only one there to dissent was me and I was in favor since I became King of OTI, which was sanctioned shortly thereafter by the aformentioned visit by Emperor Frankus Winterweathercus and his trusty cohort Senator Docus LongIslandicus, which formerly establishes me as King.Now that we have a population varying from 1 to 2, I have no problem with your snow crown title PROVIDING we have at least 10 inches of snow between Nov 1st and Dec 31st, Anno Domani 2014.At which time if you have failed, I, myself will not only take over the Snow Crown but be King of OTI as well.

Sector 3 is now back in order after the tumultous visit by the Emperor and the Senator.Many coconut trees and palm fronds were trampled by their retinue of elephants, pack mules and standard bearers, but I have set them straight.

My next task is to build a raft and do a 360 degree visual inspection of OTI.It may take weeks or even months, but I will be watching, vigilant as ever.

docstox12 wrote:Mugsy, you made the deadline for retaining your snow crown by mere milliseconds, but made it you did! Sorry for the extreme measure in disbanding Parliament, but the only one there to dissent was me and I was in favor since I became King of OTI, which was sanctioned shortly thereafter by the aformentioned visit by Emperor Frankus Winterweathercus and his trusty cohort Senator Docus LongIslandicus, which formerly establishes me as King.Now that we have a population varying from 1 to 2, I have no problem with your snow crown title PROVIDING we have at least 10 inches of snow between Nov 1st and Dec 31st, Anno Domani 2014.At which time if you have failed, I, myself will not only take over the Snow Crown but be King of OTI as well.

Sector 3 is now back in order after the tumultous visit by the Emperor and the Senator.Many coconut trees and palm fronds were trampled by their retinue of elephants, pack mules and standard bearers, but I have set them straight.

My next task is to build a raft and do a 360 degree visual inspection of OTI.It may take weeks or even months, but I will be watching, vigilant as ever.

Your English teacher would be proud of you Doc with not only the hilarious humor but the perfect grammar and flow of the writings!

Sen Doc Dicus - may have to change that ending!

Will you be enlisting the help of the infamous Thomas P Hanks for the raft building or Sir Giligan?

I would never leave my Snow Weenie's- they may leave me for a time but I am ALWAYS here for them! So my travel back to mainland shall commence on the day cause the crow has crowned twice at dawn and I shall see you back here in OTI in a few weeks my dear self proclaimed crowned unanimous leader.

Mugsy, thank you for the accolades on my rhetorical meanderings.Yes, it's true, we raised in the 50's and 60's had very strict training in literary composition.

My dear and loyal Mugsy, I appoint you as Chief of the Bureau of OTI Intelligence.While on the mainland, pay particular attention to weather related infrastructure and transmitting devices.Make a record and bring it back to OTI.If caught or captured, the Secretary of OTI Intelligence will disavow any knowledge of your existence.While there, see if you can find the last whereabouts of Snow and CP, as they have literally vanished from the face of OTI.Perhaps the Emperor and Senator on their recent visit, captured them for interrogation on the structure of OTI governance.

Report back to me in Sector 4 when you arrive back.You will find a hollowed out coconut tree with a large stick for sending signals.

Just got back today from my sea inspection by raft of the entire 360 degree perimeter of OTI.There was no sign of life anywhere however sector 8 had the remains of what appears to be a fire pit area for cooking.A land to trip to sector 8 is now in order as a result of the raft inspection to see if any implements of use were carelessly left behind.A very brief shore trip from the raft found an analytical device for statistical analysis, something of the sort the (late, maybe?) CP would have used back in the day when OTI was a thriving mega-Islandus of winter statistical activity.Now, nothing but crickets and the occaisional squaking of Island birds of all types.

The Island looks pretty secure form what I observed on the sea side of it.I am well stocked with coconuts, bananas and wild berries of all kinds.Occasionally, I spear a fish for dinner.I can go on here through these awful summer months, barely holding on until the end of September when flickers of winter  prognostication activity should light up OTI once again.

Have had no time to contemplate the course of action to take if the traitors SNOW and CP should try to weasel there way back into my good graces and rejoin the Island.Mugsy has maintained some communication so I know I can rely on him when OTI's season begins anew.

I posted this report because I notice that OTI customs registered many more visits here since my last report a few weeks or so ago.

I'm packing provisions and overnight equipment for the foray to sector 8 to discover more useable items.Will report back in a few weeks.

Boy Doc I thought you were my friend and now your calling traitor. I'm still out here keeping an eye out on the OTI. I've just been busy with my mom (took a fall, but no major issues just a banged up knee and a few stitches on the forehead) and cleaning out my brothers house (very tough emotionally sorting his personal belongings and basically erasing his life. It took me nine months to get the courage up to do deal with doing it) to get it ready for putting it up for sale. Just found out today that I may have torn my left shoulders rotater cuff. Going for MRI next week. I hope all is well with you, Cp, and Mugs. I have to say your a good OTI King  things look great here on our wonderful island. I would think that your starting to get yours things packed up for the the BIG move up to CP country. Lets hope this up coming Winter is a blockbuster up here in north and west areas. I'll try to keep in touch more often I promise. Take care and I'll talk to you all soon.  

Ahh, THERE'S my loyal and faithful fellow OTI Citizen Snow.Real glad about your Mom recovering so well and sorry for the emotional trauma on your brother.Tough pain with that rotator cuff.I suffer constantly with arthritic knees myself.Ibuprofen is your friend,SNOW,LOL!

Yep, working on the house in Mahwah getting it in shape for sale.Four months to the move up to (what was his name again, PC, C3PO...???) country.Hoping for lot's of slop storms for the City and LI and big snows for us.

Here are a few excerpts from the entire official report I filed with the O.T.I.C.I.A. concerning the recent foray to sector 8 to investigate a possible firepit area .

Upon hacking through miles of dense underbrush with a machete, I found the suspected firepit area cursorily examined on the raft expedition.Appears to be the remains of a firepit plus the remains of what could be a thatch lean to.In the underbrush I found a manual titled "USERS GUIDE TO CENTRAL PARK WEATHER DATA" by professional meteorologists Dr. Millie Bahr and Dr.Paul R Vorteks.A special section was written by the Zookeeper, "THE ART AND SCIENCE OF ACCURATE SNOW MEASUREMENT. The manual was printed by the Publishing company of E. Nos and L.Nino.

Oddly enough, pages 48 to 60 were ripped out of the guide.Upon closer examination of the firepit area, an unburnt corner numbered "Page 54" was found.Obviously somebody wanted no evidence of the Zookeeper's contribution to remain for anybody finding the guide to see.

Upon further examination of the site, the broken remains of a mercury thermometer was found with mercury visible on the ground.I cut a coconut in half and covered the spill and will report it to the O.T.I.B.O.W.M.A.R. ( OTI board of waste management and remediation) so they can send a hazmat team in suits to remediate the mercury spill.That is, when we have enough citizens to form an O.T.I.B.O.W.M.A.R.

I though it might be a good idea to climb a coconut tree to try and find a possible exit path from the site into the OTI jungle.Nothing found in that venue with my binoculars but I did observe way out near sector 11. the farthestmost point in OTI, two large wooden crates floating in towards that shoreline.I decided immediately to head back to home base, reprovision, and explore what might be the contents of those two crates.

This will obviously take at least a few weeks, so until then fellow OTI watchers, adios.

Another lengthy report to the O.T.I.C.I.A is now in order as a result of the exceedingly strange discoveries I have made in sector 11 after a two week journey through dense jungle there and back to base.

The two large wooden crates I had seen with binoculars on top of a tall coconut tree in sector 8 were both broken down on the beach.Discarded cardboard boxes were found, some with writing on them.Discovered amongst these boxes were writings of a raingauge by Ronco, an Acme Anemometer and a Popeil's combination sling psychrometer/fishing rod.I guess somebody will try to catch a fish as they are taking the dewpoint.Wrappings for a large tent made by the Olmstead and Vaux company and the cardboard wrapping of an Onan manure powered generator were found.A strange metal thin plate appeared to have dropped off from perhaps one of the weather related instruments.It read "property of Belvedere Castle", whatever on God's green earth that means.

I noticed one of the remains of the wooden crate had many 1 inch air holes about one foot from the top.There was hay on the beach sand with the distinct smell of animal droppings.A set of human tracks and many hoof prints lead into the jungle.

What an incredible mystery this is.Someone appears to be setting up a weather station deep in the jungle in sector 11.

I could not follow the tracks as I was almost out of provisions.I will get back to base and will load up the raft with adequate supplies for a long trek into the jungle of sector 11 and try and make contact with whoever is out there and find out what they are up to.

This will take at least a month's time but if and when I return, a full and detailed report of these strange events will be made.

Doc, 

BE CAREFUL!  Sector 11 has been a thorn in the OTI kingdom renegades if you will. They suck you in with their mysterious ways and then take you hostage. I heard from the governor of sectors  9,10,11 that the reports from citizens of these sectors who went into the jungle to never return. I as your King shall make a proclamation granting you the necessary provisions and supplies ( well we only have a few) and people (much fewer than our supplies) to trudge forth into the jungle herein with the King order of OTI to be passed by Parliament on this day July 19, 2014. Good luck and god's speed.

You know when I was out across my great kingdom I thought I left a tent someplace and my weather instruments my great grandfather gave me. Could just be a coincidence.

Mugsy, don't know anything about the governor of sector 9,10,11 or even if Parliament still exists.I'm back from sector 11 wracked with fever and pain after being bitten by a tse tse fly.Before I succumbed to illness, I had found trampled vegetation, animal hoofprints and one set of human tracks.I searched everywhere but found no trace of where the activity was.Always overhead were dense clouds with a fine mist falling.When I was returning on the raft back to base, I noticed constant, heavy cloud cover ONLY over sector 11, not the rest of OTI.After a week's recovery, I will bring adequate supplies, including tse tse antiserum, for an EXTENDED search of sector 11.I've got to find the individual and animals responsible for changing the climate over sector 11 and find out who he is and what he is doing.This will take a few months I am sure.Hope to be back by mid September, hopefully upright, for a full report on this most suspicious and possibly catastrophic, activity in sector 11.If I don't make it back,Mugsy, please raise money on OTI for the construction of my statue in the main square with accolades as to my outstanding citizenship on OTI.

As the old song goes...."see you in September...."

How are you doing Doc, good I hope. Sounds like you've been doing a lot of exploring on the OTI. Unfortunately I have returned to work and have little time to explore our beloved OTI, but will be going back out to have rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder in January. Just in time for when hopefully the snow and cold really get going. Hope you, CP and Mugs are all doing well. Looking forward to another exciting Winter season with you guys and lots of good banter between all of us. Hope everything is on schedule for your move to the HV. Take care and I'll try to write again soon.

I was thinking I would be back in mid September from my latest expedition to sector 11 on OTI, but the horror that befell me forced me to get back ahead of time.

Here is the full report:

I made it to the shore of Sector 11 by raft back in mid July and started making my way into the deep jungle there.After weeks of searching, I one day stepped on a snare trap that lifted me up by my feet maybe 5 feet off the ground.I stayed in that position for a day or two and was sleeping when I was rudely awakened and stared into the eyes of (upside down) none other than the Zookeeper (former) of Central Park! He cut me down and brought me back, by oxcart, to his intricate complex deep in sector 11.He fed me and gave me water and then sat me down in his laboratory.He started to ramble on:

"My dear Docstox, one year ago, I was banished from the Belvidere Castle, oulawed from the world of snow measurement, which previously, at Central Park, honored me as a genius.Now, I am hunted, despised, living like an ANIMAL.But here now ion this tropical jungle hell of OTI, I will prove my might! I will create a race of mega carbon dioxide producing animals which will help me change the climate and conquer the world!"

He then told me that Bill Evans and CP were the ones that got him thrown out of Central Park and now, this winter, he is going to effect the climate of NYC and the Hudson Valley by producing so much snow, they will be crippled not days but WEEKS!

He then turned his wrath upon me saying "you, Docstox, you sub-moronic, cretinodal bumbling idiot! I read on the internet your insanely ridiculous theory of acorns predicting the snow amounts in winter.I cannot let you out alive after that.

He then sent out a coded message via radio to what I assume to be agents on the mainline.Maybe somebody well versed in code can understand this message.It went something like this:

"Oh freddled gruntbuggly, thy micturations are to me, as plurdled gabblblotchets on a lurgid bee, groop I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes, and hooptiously drangle me with crinkly bindlewarts or I'll rend thee in the gobblewort with my blurglecruncheon....SEE IF I DON'T!

Let me tell you, when it comes to the Zookeeper (former) , sanity and reason are a thing of the past, madness reigns!

He kept me tied up to a chair and retired for the night.I was able to hop over to a sharp edged table and cut myself loose.I got out of the laboratory, but his animals raised such a ruckus, it woke him up.There proceeded a chase through the jungle that lasted all night.I was 100 feet ahead of him when I reached the raft and pushed off to sea.His last words to me were screamed out...

"TODAY OTI.....TOMORROW THE WORLD!!!"

I reached sector 3 safely and now must rest and recuperate while minds greater than mine on the mainland figure out what to do with the climate threat posed by the mega carbon dioxide producing animals the evil Zookeeper is breeding.

Just woke up from my summer hibernation so my thoughts may still be unfocused.

First of all who the hell instituted sectors on OTI? As a former dictator of the breakaway republics of OOOOOTI and YOOOOTI and IOOOOTI and all of the other regions I have carved out of my section of our island paradise I do not agree on the slicing of OTI into sectors. I know I just woke up and I would hate to start another Civil War over this but I strongly disagree.

I so strongly disagree that I'm drawing a line in the sand right now. Don't cross this line or like Pres. Obama I will make a long speech and do nothing.

And what is this talk about the zookeeper on our island? My sworn enemy. The man, woman, alien, or animal that I have been trying to defeat my entire life. The zookeeper and I can't live on the same island together. It's either him or me and I guarantee it won't be me.

Prison will not be sufficient for me for the man who has screwed up almost every major New York City snowstorm and annual snow totals for as long as I can remember probably going back to the blizzard of 1888. When I find him I will seek the death penalty, if he thinks he can run into exile he is sadly mistaken.

I will be writing a lot more on this when I gather my wits about me.

Doc other than agreeing with Mugsy about sectors you've done a great job taking care of the island during my hibernation and snowman's hibernation. What Mugsy has been doing all this time Will be for the courts to decide.

Wasn't I named the secretary of currency before my hibernation? If so coconut and bananas will now be mass produced to devalue our currency and make our goods cheaper for mainlanders. This may cause mass inflation and huge deficits for our future generations. However since we are still an island of 4 males future generations barring a mass immigration do not seem likely.

CP, thank God you are alright and the Zookeeper, who is now tresspassing on OTI, did not get you.

I merely divided OTI into sectors in your absence for demarcation of my explorations in the Island.I defer to your impassioned demands to revert back to the OOOOTI or OOOOTYI map, whatever you deem necessary.

Second your motion for the hunting down and imprisonment of the Zookeeper.You read what he try to do to me.

Agree on the currency.Like the mainland, we can "print" our currency (mass production of bananas and coconuts).

I kept up exploration to entertain the mainlanders during this dead spell from Spring to Fall to keep their spirits up before the winter begins.Check the Off Topic thread to see how many visits there have been.It's like a train wreck, they just had to watch,LOL! Sadly, since you,Secretary of Currnecy, was hibernating, no custom taxes were collected of these visitors to fortify the treasury.

Welcome back, OTI was not the same without you here.

Doc your post on 9/3/14 was GREAT ! I never laughed so hard. Very good stuff. It was so good it even brought Cp out of summer hibernation   . I wish I had the same talent as you for writing unfortunately I probably never will. Pretty soon this thread will become very active when the weather starts to get cold and hopefully snowy again. The question is will are SNOW KING (aka Mugs) be able to produce some MONSTER snowstorms or will he fail as he did at the end of last season. Ah, I can't wait to be reading stories of betrayal, back stabbing and other under handed behavior on this thread. Will our SNOW KING remain in power through the whole winter season or will he ousted by the peasants under his rule for not producing enough snow for us snow weenies. If he is knocked off his throne who will be our next leader. Could it be our keeper of our beloved OTI Docstox12 or will it be our keeper of statistics Cpcantmeasuresnow or even possibly the person writing this post. Ne who ha ha ! Stay tuned fellow snow weenies I'm sure as the winter season comes upon us things will get very interesting on our OTI thread.

Snow, pal-o-mine, so glad you enjoyed my rambling insanity on this thread.I have a very vivid imagination because we were so poor when I was a kid, there was little else to entertain except your own imagination,LOL! I created this idiocy mainly to get the board through the summer doldrums and if I look at the visits here, there are over three thousand, so a lot of poor souls got dragged into my swamp of madness!

Yes, we are going to have a ball here on OTI or as CP would say either OOOOTI or TIOTIOTI or whatever.The battle for SNOW KING will be magnificent to watch and I expect betrayal, poisonings,phoney statistics and all sorts of malfeasance and skulduggery.

Doc I can hardly wait until the hi-jinx and fun to begin this upcoming winter season. Hopefully this year us Northern folks will get some of the BIG snows. By the way how are things going for your move to the HV ? It shouldn't be long now before you move up there right ? When I got home from work yesterday there they were, the six little bears (I shouldn't say little, but there were 2 cubs though) eating off the rock my wife usually puts seed and peanuts on for the squirrels and the birds. They were all sitting next to each other. It looked like they were at a buffet table and then when they saw me they gave me the look like, what ? Pretty funny except for the critters that I want to feed are missing out. So I gave them the old roar and a little yelling and poof they were gone, but I'm sure they'll be back to see what's on the menu today. Talk to you later Doc.

SNOW, moving to HV in about one week.Would be nice to see the old order restored with the big snows hitting N and W again.Hate to say it but I think this S and E trend of the last 5 years for the big snows will continue.Weird but that track seems to be the norm now.Of course my moving N and W of Mahwah to the HV will only reinforce that S and E trend,LOL! CP will hire a hit man then to take me out!

Saw one bear at my Fiancee's house in the HV but you have the whole family out there.Don't step on any cubs or you won't have those rotator cuff problems any longer,LOL!I'll be out your way for a last fishing trip with my old frat brothers second week in October.I'll blow the horn on Coolbaugh! Fishing the main stem Delaware and Hidden Lake.Delaware must be real low with the lack of rain.I'll lift a beer mug in your honor at Floods in Stroudsberg.

The hilarity will hit here with the first snow flurries and sub freezing night.Think I'll get an old mercury thermometer and hang it outside so I can enlist in the SNOW-CP low temperature war of 2014-2015!

Doc, I hope your wrong about the BIG snows staying S and E, but I know your probably right. I bet your pretty excited about your move up to God's country being so close. I hope everything goes smoothly.I'm going to chip in with Cp for that hit man if your right. lol ! I just checked in on my weather station remotely. It says our low was 41* at 4:41am this morning. Another chilly start. Take that Cp where ever your hiding. Let's get this temp war started early this year. I know his low temp was probably lower, but I figured maybe this will bring him out of hiding. LOL !

41 in Sept. is downright chilly.So far, all is well with the move.Amazing how much junk you accumulate living in a house 34 years.Donating stuff and selling the rest.Ay my age, a minimalist approach to life is necessary."simplicity is peace".

I think CP is organizing an offensive to oust the Zookeeper from OTI before he can crank up his Doomsday Climate Control apparatus,LOL!

Doc I gotta tell you I love your line on the Doomsday Climate Control apparatus. It cracked me up. See you later.

SNOW MAN wrote:Doc your post on 9/3/14 was GREAT ! I never laughed so hard. Very good stuff. It was so good it even brought Cp out of summer hibernation   . I wish I had the same talent as you for writing unfortunately I probably never will. Pretty soon this thread will become very active when the weather starts to get cold and hopefully snowy again. The question is will are SNOW KING (aka Mugs) be able to produce some MONSTER snowstorms or will he fail as he did at the end of last season. Ah, I can't wait to be reading stories of betrayal, back stabbing and other under handed behavior on this thread. Will our SNOW KING remain in power through the whole winter season or will he ousted by the peasants under his rule for not producing enough snow for us snow weenies. If he is knocked off his throne who will be our next leader. Could it be our keeper of our beloved OTI Docstox12 or will it be our keeper of statistics Cpcantmeasuresnow or even possibly the person writing this post. Ne who ha ha ! Stay tuned fellow snow weenies I'm sure as the winter season comes upon us things will get very interesting on our OTI thread.

Snow man:

40.6 Wednesday morning, can the 30's be far behind? Doc, get up here already, we need a third for the temperature contest.

What about WD40, or whatever here name was? During the height of last years OTI rebellions, protests, race riots (OOTI and YOOTI) and snow drought (mid Februay to Mid April), wasn't she high on the list of  possible replacements for Mugsy? Speaking of Mugsy how can someone who doesn't even have a permanent residence on OTI be the King of OTI? Until he shows a valid OTI birth certificate he's no king of mine. My sources are pretty confident he was born in Kenya.

As regards to the continued hunt for the zookeeper who supposedly has taken up residence on OTI I have no confirmed sightings. However I did fnd the scribblings of some snowfall data for Central Park from March 1888. It's hard to read as the paper is old and parched and the writing is barely legible as if written by an ape. However there is a final snowfall tally of 38.0 which was crossed out and replaced with 21.0. The papers are also stained with dried blood. A conspiracy theorist I am not, but could this be how it all began?

Be there in a week CP.First thing I do is get a mercury thermometer to enter the contest.

Mugsy has dual citizenship on the mainland and OTI.I agree on seeing his birth certificate if he wants to maintain his status.Myself, I am only a citizen of OTI and have a visa for mainland visits issued by the Emperor when he visited OTI long ago.Proof of my OTI citizenship lies above in this thread in the myriad of posts on exploration of OTI.Who else but an honest to God citizen of OTI would spend months of his life investigating the island for the benefits of our citizens.

Please send that paper with the crude scribblings changing the 1888 snow totals in Central Park from 38 to 21 inches.I have copies of the Zookeepers writings for handwriting analysis.Could the Zookeeper be immortal actually existing in 1888? These are issues to ponder in your conspiracy theory which I think is valid.Believe me, he is on OTI somewhere as I had a harrowing experience with him trying to murder me.I say we raise an army to search the Island and capture him for waterboarding to get information out of him.

It's time for the long range winter forecast from the OTI Meteorological Institute.

The winter of 2014-2015:

1)  For areas 25 miles and more North and West of the I 95 corridor: Below average cold and below to average snowfall

2) For the I 95 corridor and areas 25 miles around it: Below to average cold and average to above average snowfall

3)For far Southern NJ, the Jersey Shore, LI, SE Conn.,RI and the Cape:Average cold and above average to much above average snowfall

I expect the colder air to the N and W to suppress the big snowstorms to the South and East.Even without that influence, the last five years, big snowstorms have trended far south or to the south and east of I 95.I expect that trend to continue until it's decisively broken, perhaps if I am wrong in the above, this year.Accuweather's long range seems to see a more N and W bias for the snowstorms and mixing in the areas I have called for the heaviest snow.

I don't dare post this on the mainland board because my forecast is "seat of the pants", non-model based on 54 years of observing NE area winters.Howeever, any of you "slumming" here on the OTI Snow Weenie board now have my opinions, LOL!

Well, here is this latest coastal storm pounding the Jersey Shore.See number 3 in my above post.The south and east bias continues!