cangor

Yeah, your hosting would have lapsed, but how about having to do five hours worth of homework in the dark, eh? I live in oregon, your neighbor to the south, and we had problems, too. I had to do a five page assignment for AP Euro which the teacher had given us 1 day to do. Annoying at the least.

Ahhh, advertisements. The reason I'm at Xisto as opposed to other hosting services. I absolutely hate ads, especially pop-ups, pop-unders, sidebars, and those which you cannot position in your own page. Which means pretty much everything you don't add voluntarially.Advertisements are basically a sign of how commericalized civilization and the internet has become. And it sucks.Ads are also really mean, because a lot of people who don't know a lot about the internet click them unknowingly, thinking they're legit... Wrong.

I'm not that much of a gamer. I used to be a lot more of a nerd, but even then I ate healthy and stayed fit. Now I'm more likely to be playing badminton in my backyard than Warcraft on my computer. In any case, you can be a gamer and still be healthy.

Occasionally I'll use something like frontpage, but mostly I use notepad, and for graphics PSP7 and Photoshop 5.

Wow. That sucks. Well, when I first created my site way back when, I only got a few hits a day or less. You've just got to have lots of other sites link to you and also, offer something original, if possible. The number of people visiting my site doubles roughly every 2 months. I think that if you just follow these two rules, you can get a decent community back at your site. I think it's a good idea to use your site for business, but perhaps you should keep the web-graphics part alive...

I wear glasses. Haven't even tried contacts. I don't really have to wear glasses that much, though, 'cause my eyes aren't that bad. Contact lenses are Okay, but, if you're worried about what you look like, it usually doesn't matter. All the people I know say I look just as good with glasses as without. However, If I have absolute coke-bottle lenses on my glasses, I'd get contacts, because that begins to look really rediculous.As for LASIK, well, I'm an avid astronomer, and I've heard that LASIK can sometimes ruin your night vision, so that's pretty much out of the picture.

Wow, husker, I really thought you were some holiday-bashing misanthrope by the title. Anyways, I agree, it's kinda dumb. BordaForx is definately right, though, they came up with the X to get rid of "Christ." Which is dumb. It's a christian holiday, after all!

Well, wow, that's really cute and nice. However, that's obviously not the way every relationship is. Then again, I don't think that a relationship can last if it isn't based on what Albus described. Anyways, rest assured that we at least don't think you're nerdy or dumb or whatever. A romantic perhaps, but whatever.

Yeah, well, all I have to say to this is that tuna is very, very good.SEE! I can't concentrate either. I have this wonderful tuna sandwich in front of me and...Yeah, um, you'll be able to concentrate better if you remove the distraction. Deep, huh?

interesting... and creepy in a sick sort of way. Seriously, though, I'd rather just be cremated and scattered across people's flower beds or whatever. Once I die my spirit won't be with my body, so it's kinda like wearing a dead body. eew.

Uh...Okay, moving on...Like people have been saying, just go for it. I don't know exactly how things are for you but i'd say that you've got nothing to lose and, hey, if you think she likes you...

That's really, really cheap. Scammers are just scum too lazy to earn money honestly... argh. Anyways, I can assure you that Xisto isn't a scam, so, good luck here.

Lecturing teachers aren't usually good, but, if I think about it, I wouldn't be able to learn AP European History if my teacher didn't lecture a lot.

Seriously, you're just being juvinile. grow up a bit. I seriously think the entire concept of revenge is completely dumb and childish. Be a bit more mature and everybody'll like you anyways.

Seriously, why impeach bush. Seriously, I don't like him at all, but he's still better than kerry by far. Basically, the only reason to impeach bush would be because you don't like the war in iraq. I don't either. However, with oil quickly running out, declaring war on iraq might actually be protecting the economic interests of our country. Not that I agree with his methods, but you shouldn't just put down Bush for no reason.Oh, and good for you, those of you who actually know WHY you believe what you do.

Yeah, well, Kioku, you only dwell on the negative.Since you say you can't record it, I don't really know how to help, but recording isn't that bad, is it?

I dunno. The guy sounds like a real dumb@$$, the kind of person I love to hate as well. Seriously, though, he acts like he's so great, is he really smart or anything? And how the heck can he pick groups? Maybe the smart people want to do something. Anyways, if you're the only one annoyed by him, then you probably should just learn to grow a thick skin and ignore him. And if everyone hates him, then no revenge is necessary.Seriously, revenge is just childish. If you had "revenge" on him, what would the effects be. Would he feel dumb? Probably. Would you feel any better? Maybe. Would anyone else care? Probably not.From experience, revenge isn't all that great. If he has a girlfriend or something, you could mess that up, but that'd just get him angry at you. Seriously, just leave him be.

History isn't boring, it's actually fascinating. However, if you have a bad teacher, then all life is sucked from the material. If you've got a teacher which just lectures the same stuff over and over again, why not tell them? I mean, if you're an A student and all, then you probably get along relatively well with them, so just talk to them after class or whatever. Your teacher might just blow you off, but maybe they'll go "oh!" and will actually start being more interesting. It can't hurt, can it?

On Anti-Religious Sentiment Ya know, at school, whenever someone mentions religion, there is always a crowd of people who are like, ?Religion, bah, nothing good has ever come out of religion. Why would anyone believe in religion? All religion does is divide people and create war.? or ?You shouldn?t mention religion in school. It?s discriminatory to promote religion!? Yeah, well I?ve had it with this. In my little essay here, I will state my opinion on Religion, the bum wrap it?s getting in society, and whatever I feel like saying. However, unlike most of the in?duh?viduals out there who don?t have any reason at all for why they believe what they do, I will provide evidence to support my point of view. Forgive me if this gets bloody, this is the vent. Oh, and also, since you probably don?t want to read everything I write, I have given each section a title so you can skim what I have to say and find whatever you want to find. Religion as a Cause for War Seriously, how many times in a day do you hear this? When Christianity is mentioned, people point to the crusades or something, or to the jihads waged by some modern day followers of Islam. First, for Christianity. As far as the crusades are concerned, there was little to no religious involvement in this war. It was designed to take over the Holy Land from non-Christians, sure, but the real reason the crusades were waged was basically an early form of European expansionism and colonialism. Religion and ?retaking the Holy Land from the heathen? was used as an excuse to make war justifiable, but in the end it was all about power and control. Another example commonly used to say that religion causes war is the ?religious wars? in Europe. The most famous example here is the Thirty Year?s War, which took place in the early 1600s. I don?t deny that religion was one of the causes of the war, but I want to take a look at it a bit closer. Here is an explanation of the war written by yours truly. =============================== Philip II of Spain (catholic) dreamt of building a second armada after being crushed by the English, and Henry IV of France was in the process of reconstructing France from the ruin brought upon it by religious division, esp. in the nobility. The Peace of Augsburg in 1555 had served as a temporary settlement, but later in the 16th century, Catholics began to grow alarmed as Lutherans were acquiring German bishopries. However, the Peace of Augsburg had stated that a prince determined the religion of his subjects. The advent of Calvinism further confused the issue. As the Peace of Augsburg had applied to only Catholics and Lutherans, Calvinists saw everyone as a fair conversion opportunity. The Jesuits also began to convert Lutheran princes to gain the Catholics control of more territory. The Lutherans felt as if they were being undermined by Calvinist and Catholic advantages, and formed the Protestant Union in 1608. The Catholics retaliated with the Catholic League in 1609. There are four sections generally defined in the Thirty Years? War: The Bohemian Period 1618-1625 In 1617, Ferdinand of Styria, the new Catholic king of Bohemia, closed some Protestant churches. On May 23, 1618, two of his officials were hurled out a window by Protestants, landing in a heap of dung and escaping with minor injuries. (ain?t history wonderful) The rebels chose a new king, Fredrick, the elector of the Palatinate. The Bohemian Period was characterized by civil war in between the Catholic League, led by Ferdinand, and the Protestant Union, headed by Frederick. It resulted in Catholic victory, and within ten years, Bohemia was completely Catholic. Result: Catholics: 1 Protestants: 0 The Danish Period 1625-1629 Albrecht of Wallenstein, a Catholic, scored several victories against the Protestants. He used his riches to build an army of 50,000 men and seemed more interested in carving out an empire for himself than helping the Catholic cause. He even spoke out against the Catholic League, and eventually wandered away from the Catholic church. In any case, the Jesuits persuaded the emperor to issue the Edict of Restitution, which stated all Catholic properties lost to Protestantism since 1552 were to be restored and only Catholics and Lutherans were to be allowed to practice their faiths. Result: Catholics: 2 Protestants: 0 The Swedish Period 1630-1635 Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus arrived in Germany and became a champion for the Protestants, winning two major battles, one in 1631 at Breitenfeld, and the other in 1632 at Luetzen. He was fatally wounded in the latter. Though Catholic, the French supported the Swedish Protestants, as they wanted to undermine the Hapsburgs. Result: Catholics: 2 Protestants: 1 The French Period 1635-1648 In 1635, Catholic Cardinal Richelieu, essentially the French leader at the time, declared war on Catholic Hapsburg Spain and sent additional financial and military assistance to the Swedes and German Protestants. The war dragged on until October 1648, when the Peace of Westphalia was signed. ============================== Ok, so maybe that was a bit too in-depth, (heh, AP Euro History class) but I would like to argue a few points here. The war was undoubtedly started over religion, but, as far as the Catholics, and even the Lutherans were concerned, they were not concerned with ?saving souls? but rather with gaining land. The reason the Lutherans even existed is because of how secularized the Catholic church had become. However, at the beginning of the thirty year?s war, people were not concerned with faith and religion but rather with power. Also, almost immediately, this war turned into a war of dynastic ambition. Albrecht von Wallenstein, from the Danish period, though fighting for the Catholics, was really not concerned with religion at all. He was more interested in becoming a war hero and creating his own little empire. Also, in the French period, Richelieu, who was practically in charge of the French throne, declared war on militantly catholic Spain and allied with Protestant Germany. The funny thing about Richelieu? He was a Cardinal in the catholic church! How?s that for not caring about religion. The reason he supported his religious opposites? Because he was more interested in making sure Hapsburg Spain did not become too powerful. Thanks to this crafty political move, France was the major European power after the war. ?ya know, this can almost be tied into the Islamic fanaticism today. There are always these people you hear about in the news who blow up buses and stuff, and they say they do it to spread their religion or as retaliation. Are they really that different from the Catholics and Protestants in 17th century Europe? Not really. And they have good reason to be mad at us. You remember the crusades? All of Christian Europe slaughtered them! Though it may be time to ?forgive and forget,? it?s understandable that the hatred of the western world this fostered has not yet died out. Sure, I don?t agree with what they?re doing, and that doesn?t make it okay, but they?ve at least got a reason. And why does some random person over here in the US (where this doesn?t affect us) care about religion. Well, it?s understandable why someone would hate Muslims because of how stuff they do is negatively publicized by the media, but that doesn?t mean all Muslims are ?bad.? Not every Muslim wants to blow you up! And also, concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict, it?s easy to see why the Muslims are angry there as well. They?ve basically got the rest of the world going against them. I strongly refute the statement that religion fosters hatred, and I think anyone who has looked at the facts should agree. Religion in Schools as Discriminatory I?ve heard people say over and over again that Religion has no place in School. While I don?t disagree with this, as I think that no particular religion should be endorsed over another in school, I think religion is a good topic for discussion and, also, by having 80% of the student population say that religion has no place in school, it is actually creating an environment discriminatory to those who are religious, no matter what their religion. In fact, this approach is endorsing atheism, which in itself is a religion, a set of beliefs.I?ll expand on this point at a later time, but I?m interested in hearing what people have to say to what I?ve written.

Well, good luck. I just finished first quarter with an A, but that's mostly because our teacher is nice. He makes us work our @$$es off, but he grades easily. I got a 117% on the last test. :blink:The tones are really hard to remember, I think. I prefer to learn the characters, but that may only be because of how our teacher teaches.

hatehatehatehateHATE...Yeah. I am so d*** tired of hearing dumb people talk about runescape. Sure, online games can be fun, but YOUR ENTIRE D*** LIFE SHOULDN'T REVOLVE AROUND THEM. I have a particular space in my black heart for runescape, the worst MMO game of them all. It corrodes young minds, (only joking) provides a black hole for time, andagrh.*argh.I just hate it when people talk constantly about runescape. Luckily I'm in high school, and RS is a bit more of a grade-school game so I don't hear about it as much, but...anyways, in High School it's world of warcraft. I don't mind WoW so much, though I am annoyed by people looking me in the eye and crying, "you don't play wow!?" but it's warcraft, so at least it's kinda cool. And smart on blizzard's part.But anyways, I understand the collective frustration with Runescape. It is the embodiment of everything that is vile in the universe.

I hate Bush. In fact, I would almost rather have Kerry as president. Almost.As far as abortion is concerned, I think that it should only be ok in cases of rape or incest. People should face the consequences of their actions and be responsabile. Here in good ol' Oregon a bill was recently turned down that required parental notification when an unemancipated minor gets an abortion. Basically, if a girl goes to have sex with her boyfriend and gets pregnant, which is technically against the law, but whatever, you can't just get an abortion and not take responsability when you've been irresponsabile. Wow. an oxymoron.I mean, I guess the plan B pill is ok, but abortion is a lot different. Girls say that they should be able to do with their bodies what they want, but, to tell the truth, it's not their body when they're getting an abortion - it's their baby's. Every child deserves a right to live. Would you say that a baby has less of a right to live just because they're growing up in a meth house as opposed to an affluent, rich household? I hope not. Even if they're not concieved under ideal circumstances, it's almost like murder to abort a baby.As for gay marriage, well, you can probably tell I'm conservative, so you know what I'm going to say, but, honestly, I really don't care what goes on in the bedroom, but I don't think a homosexual partnership should be called a marriage. The only reason gays want to be able to marry is so that they can get the $$$ benefits from being married. I bet that if there was no advantages to getting marries, well, we'ed have a lot more unmarried people living together, but other than that, gays wouldn't care whether or not they were considered married.Anyways, I don't like bush, and I agree that the laws should reflect the opinion of the majority, or at least the sensient majority. There are too many people who just vote based on the propaganda-esque commericals they see on television instead of really considering why they believe what they do... In fact, they don't know why they believe, and that just gives more power to the government.Basically, right now, I think the majority opinion is that gays shouldn't be able to marry and, though it's close, that abortion is ok.'nuff said.

The first character in the second one means hero or heroic... Other than that, I can't really read much. I recognize some of the radicals but I don't know what the words mean.

Well, I guess I know where you're coming from, I really used to be a nerd, and I guess I still am, a bit, but not like I used to. I don't know exactly what you're like so I don't really know how to help you exactly, but I agree that you shouldn't change who you are. I mean, I'm still the same person I've always been and I've got plenty of friends, girls or otherwise. But anyways, enough about me.mbacarra is right, though. What you're lacking is self confidence. I mean, it's ok to be shy, but you can't just lock up or something. Anyways, I've got a story for you which applies to your situation.So, homecoming dance at my high school was a month ago or something, and one day, when I'm going to get on the bus, a (geeky, not exactly good looking, hippie-ish, shy) friend plows past me and runs on to the bus. He sits down across from me and basically collapses. I ask him why he was running. He doesn't answer. I asked if he was trying to beat me on the bus. No reply. I ask him if he was being chased by a certain one of our other friends."Well, I was running from someone...""Who?""Ask yourself this. Have you ever asked a girl out with a post-it note?"Me: "Heck no! That's amazingly dumb.""Well, I did it today. And then I bolted as soon as class was over.""Uh, that's not going to solve anything.""...""What about school tomorrow?""I don't know. I just told myself, this is the year. either I do it or be damned. I think I'm damned."Anyways, it trailed off there with a series of funny events, but let me just say that this kid is not good looking, or whatever the opposite of good looking is, is shy, weird, and, uh, has a lot less going for him than anyone else I know.But she said yes. I mean, if a girl does turn you down, she'll do it very kindly like, "I'm buzy that night" or "I'm already going to the dance with someone, sorry." They don't bite, and they don't tell the entire school.My point is, just ask her. I'm guessing that if you ask her before anyone else does, she'll say yes for sure.Also, try to look nice-ish. Mostly what I'm saying here is don't just have super, super messy hair. Girls don't like that, and, if you are a nerd as you say, well, I know a lot of nerds who absolutely do not care about how they look. Sorry, but it helps if you care about personal grooming at least a bit.Good luck, though.

Aww, communism. Ok, well, I mean, it's really true that there's almost no chance of it actuallyh working in people coming from a capitalistic society. Take china, for example. It was going good at first, but in china, russia, etc, it's always collapsed into stalinism/socialism. I agree that communism is a good idea, but as Lord Acton, my friend and yours said, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Basically, if communism always has to have a leader, that leader will most likely become a socialist dictator.Reccomended Reading:Karl Marx - The Communist Manifestoor, if you want an even older view on something like communism, read Thomas More's Utopia. Good stuff.