salamangkero

No, or at least, not for the common pedestrian-type guy who has no access to testing labs. That's why we all walk around unaware that things like these may or may not be happening No. Your latter examples won't seem to corner the market. For one, people drink a lot of things aside from soda. If they get thirsty, what's to assure them they'll buy the same brand later on? People also eat other things aside from fast-food. On a side note, there is also an urban legend over here. It was said that a leading manufacturer of baby powder sought to increase their sales by 20%. At the time, their baby powder bottles had 5 holes at the top. They added one more hole and, true enough, later sales increased by 20% Again, just an urban legend. This one, however, is real. Digital camera companies have always supported the idea that the more megapixels a camera has, the better. Truth is, the human eye can only see so much detail that even for making a poster, just 5 or 6 megapixels will do, but their sales personnel wouldn't tell you that now, would they? Oh well, c'est la vie. There is a saying here that goes "Walang manloloko kung walang magpapaloko." (There will be no deceivers if no one lets himself be deceived)

I collect Snoopy collectibles from McDonald's Happy Meals. Yes, I know it's a very embarrassing experience for a grown-up guy to order a happy meal from a cashier quite unable to suppress her ear-to-ear grin. Oh well, the things I do for the things I like :DI also, well, "collect" isn't exactly the word. I have quite a handful of paperclips I just happened to stumble upon. It's not really a collection; I didn't go out of my way to get 'em. Each paperclip I have there came to me by chance.No, I don't have an unhealthy obsession with paperclips. I fon't pick up paperclips from muddy or dirty ground. I also dislike the Microsoft Office Assistant, Clippit

Personally, I liked the red one better. The black background made the character too distinct and the text practically unreadable. The red background could use a little... I dunno. I just think the red's a tad too vivid.Just my opinions, though

I, for one, would think it's gonna be cool to know when I'd die. I could prepare for death, make funerary arrangements and stuff like that. (I don't want to lie down on a boring coffin/casket 6 feet under, I want to be "on my feet" in an obelisk of moderate height )A few hours before I die, I'd gather all my friends together for one last party. I'd be the greatest host I have never been. Then a few minutes before I die, I'd sing for them. I'm still having difficulties choosing which song to sing. For one, there's Don McLean's American Pie:"This will be the day that I die. This will be the day that I die..."Then, there's also our national anthem Lupang Hinirang by Julian Felipe. The last lines go:"Aming ligaya na pag may mang-aapi ang mamatay ng dahil sa iyo."(...but it is glory ever when thou art wronged for us thy sons to suffer and die.)Someone already did this before (in a movie) but she forced her death by overdosing on drugs before singing her last song. Another character, Selma (Bjork) from Dancer in the Dark, sang her last song before she was executed.Gawd, I was so moved by that movie. Y'know what? Forget the obelisk and the the last party (or last supper, whichever), so long as I get to sing one last song before I die. I'd know exactly when I'd die and when I do, people will remember me as the one who sang "that morbidly chilling song so appropriate, it's as if he sensed what was coming." Not that spectacular, but still great and no one will be the wiser :DNo, I don't have a great voice, though. I'm no performer or diva

My first thought was, "What the..."Then I clicked the link and saw its features "Whoa!"Then I read about its RSS features "Good Lord!" (that coming from no less than an agnostic )

No more than it already did. The danger lies in over-specialization. Let's say you have uploaded thirty A-quality papers/essays on Chemistry while you download 10 homeworks about algebra. What this means is that while you may continue developing your skills, as far as Chemistry is concerned, you are also missing out on a very important part of your education: algebra. The question is not how much you're getting or how much you're giving. The big issue, methinks, is that in the process of easily getting "something" (homework) you're missing out on "some larger things" (education). Like hell you'd learn something about colloids by simply downloading homework about them, never mind how many papers about binary and hexadecimal number systems you upload. Lastly, there is still a big difference between a grade of D in 3rd grade science and a grade of D in 3rd year high school chemistry. Just a comment I hope that cleared things up

Has it ever occurred to you that someone, somewhere knows something you don't and they're having a good time at your expense?Call it conspiracy theory or whatnot but I have always had the nagging feeling that shaving creams and/or after-shave lotions might have hair growth stimulants. If it were so, there is nothing we consumers could do about it since, after all, they never were supposed to inhibit hair growth nor did they advertise doing so. Still, it is a pretty darned smart way to ensure that their customers will keep on buying their products. To us, they are just implements to an eternal ritual against something we, as humans, have deemed inescapable: shaving. To them, they are almost a self-sustaining investment.How about those mold and mildew cleaners? What if each droplet of acidic liquid poured onto the grout between ceramic tiles contained a certain chemical, which, when decayed, encourages more fungal growth? The companies selling these cleaners, too, did not advertise retarding mold and mildew proliferation. They were supposed to clean but not keep your tiles clean. If these indeed contained such chemicals, we'd be in a never-ending battle against fungus.Another one I have had the luxury to experience: anti-dandruff shampoo. So long as I keep on using it, I don't get flaky scalp; it must have some strong chemicals for even its vapors sting my eyes. However, when I discontinue usage, I get a dandruff boom. Does it also have nice ingredients that decay into bad ones?Ahh, the refined art of subterfuge. Technically, the makers of the three products never lied to us; they just happened to omit certain facts from the mass media. Given that I, too, enjoy "lying" to others, I'm beginning to wonder if any of those people might be my kin

That is a very hasty generalization. For one, I need to breathe but I don't have to buy air. I need friends but I don't buy my companions. More importantly, though, before you even so much as post or signup to such a site, you have already bought something: education. You pay your school/institution to teach you something and homeworks are one of the ways to make you learn something. By supporting such sites, you defy the education you were supposed to get. In essence, it's like boring holes in the roof while your roofing guy patches up. Too much to handle, I'd bet. For one, how do you know they're submitting actual information and not just speculative data or hearsay? Well, I digress already. My point is that doing other people's homeworks and having them do yours is hardly beneficial. It's almost like kids on third grade will think, "If I do kindergarten students' homework, someone will do mine." While, at first, the time/effort trade might seem logical, it isn't. As it is, the poor guy will get stuck on third grade because he did not learn what he was supposed to learn and, instead, foolishly thought that a hundred kindergarten-level homeworks are equal to two or three third-grade homeworks. Like a lot of other replies in this thread, I also am not going to help. It is a very lucrative idea and it will sell, that I am sure of. However, it does run against my beliefs. I, for one, do not want to envision a future run by dumb, pathetic, stupid, idiotic morons who know nothing about solving problems on their own. No offense meant, it's not personal, rest assured v

Oh no, not again... There is this album by Whitey: "The Light at the End of the Tunnel is a Train" Oh, and you're not even supposed to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel while you're still alive so I daresay that clichč quote was misused or misplaced

I've watched a lot of testimonials on TV features about acupuncture and one of those I've heard is that it ain't that painful. A documentary explained that they use needles much finer than sewing needles. Exactly how fine, I have no idea but it's apparently fine enough to cause only minimal pain

I'm not sure the point of these guys is getting rich quick or even getting rich at all. The things is that if they could con someone into donating even a dollar for them, then why stop their idea? It's like the goose that laid golden eg, only, it lays ordinary eggs, but it lays an egg everyday. True, you won't get rich selling only one egg a day but as an Asian American in The Money song (Avenue Q) once said, it's "every little bit help" The more racist of my fellow countrymen insinuate that the Chinese have the motto "Kahit sinko, basta kita." Roughly translated, it means "Even a 5-cent is good, if its profit." (Well, there is also the racist joke on how Chinese allegedly speak our language but let's not go into that) It is worth noting that a 5-cent coin is the smallest denomination of money in our country. (No, we don't actually have individual cents in circulation) The point is, never underestimate money, no matter how small. Lastly, an advice my mom gave me when I teased her about stooping down to pick up a "sinko" (5-cents coin) on the ground: "Always respect money, no matter how small because you will regret the day when money loses respect for you." While not really believing inanimate coins and bills actually respect or even feel anything, I got the message

Awwh, that' too bad. I mean, if one site has a theme, it would really be nifty if the scrollbars, too, followed that theme. Then again, the novelty of the idea might wear off once everyone else uses CSS for scrollbars. Nonetheless, while browsers like IE and Opera support CSS toolbars, there will still be people who'd use 'em. As for Firefox users (me included), too bad. Still, what damage could not seeing CSS scrollbars do?

Much as the views of a probabilistic universe tend to disturb my very soul, I would have to agree. There may be a lot more to the world than what we perceive. Yes, we all know that. Also, the "What is..." forum is probably more suited to discussions about a term rather than the mere statement of what it denotes or what the dictionary (or heaven forbid, Wikipedia) says it means

Good Lord! (Pun intended) I absolutely loved that one I just have a few Well said, well said.

Black. It's practically the void.I could easily have gone with the white of an empty canvas but I find black to be a lot easier on the eyes.

I'm getting a pretty much clearer picture on what genocide really means now. Thanks guys! I will have to disagree on that. Just because it involves killing does not necessarily mean that it is wrong or evil. For example, what if we discovered a tribe of xenophobic cultists who kill on sight anyone not affiliated with them. Furthermore, assume that these people are, shall we say, bullet proof but that we have discovered they are fatally allergic to cyanide, that mere skin contact with the stuff kills them in under a minute. Apart from that, they are superior in everything, especially the art of combat and slaughter. Do we allow these threats to grow rampant in our midst? Shall we ignore the way they decimate our numbers? Suspend your beliefs for a moment and say that they can even bend titanium through sheer muscle power (or maybe even with mind power, who cares?) The point is that if we do "eliminate" this threat, we commit genocide. See, not everything they taught us to be evil actually is. They used to say killing is wrong, but what about self-defense? In the same way, genocide, while usually appearing to be unreasonable, can also be the only "right" course of action to take. Ahh, but I do tend to conjure far-fetched scenarios; pardon me. After all, what are the odds that there exist an undiscovered tribe of xenophobic titanium axe-wielding madmen? (madpersons, for the more genteel of you)

It's not exactly "killing" yourself. As a matter of fact, you live on. I do happen to hold the belief that just because I'm not holding the same set of atoms I did just a few seconds ago does not necessarily mean I'm not me anymore. If it were true, though, you'd have to agree that people change all the time. Whenever I scratch my butt or pick my nose, it's no longer me. Heck, just the simple process of exfoliating my skin "changes" me. So the point is that human identity probably does not lie on the very atoms that comprise him (or her, for the gender-sensitive of you) Ultimately, it leads to, "No, I don't believe teleport-cloning is killing yourself for someone that is not you"

Nice... that's kinda... spooky. I'll do well to remember that and, should I get my hands on a copy, I'd be sure to send it, as a gift, to the people on my revenge list

I'm not sure how things go over there but in our country, web design is more closely related to the College of Fine Arts than it is to Computer Science. As it is, I, along with a lot of people here, do think that web design is not something that could be securely made as a primary income. Here's what I perceive to be the reasons why: 1. No benefits - I'm assuming you'd be freelancing. If you are, then you won't get to expect health benefits, dental benefits and the like. 2. Variable demand - Again, for freelancers. Not that it's hard to find people who want to give their web pages a makeover. The problem is in finding those people regularly 3. Sub-skill - So let's say you're not freelancing; you work in an outsourcing or solutions firm or whatnot. The problem is that web design alone is hardly a skill enough. As it is, it is "supposedly" an integral part of web developers' or graphic designers' being. 4. Competition - the local College of Fine Arts churn out a substantial amount of graduates every year. A quarter of that will be your potential competitors. It is practically the same with Computer Science graduates. Basically, that's why I'm thinking web design is hardly a suitable career track. It's like a compromise between Computer Science and Fine Arts (or Visual Arts, Multimedia, etc) There is also the saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none." Then again, I could claim temporary insanity and advice you to take what I just said with a grain or two of salt. Like I said, that was just my two cents

Y'know what? This has probably got to be the most relatively original idea here. People keep talking about alien life, intelligent alien life and the like, assuming humanity will eventually find them, oftentimes without bothering to consider if life even existed at the same time as us. Oh, and while we're considering time as an important factor, a book I've read once has a humorous take on intelligent alien life. Even assuming that they can travel faster than the speed of light, they won't see us like we are now. For all we know, what they probably see on their home planet are humans clothed in crinolines, waving feathered fans, holding balls (no, the other kind of "balls"), dancing waltzes and carrying about in carriages. Even if they were to come here right now, they will probably address us with "Good day, dear sir," instead of the cliche, "We come in peace."

I'm a Runescape freeloader.I usually play it only during holidays (for the holiday drops) or when I'm really bored (there are times Neopets' games don't cut it) I also occasionally play (I'm on my last free quest) when I'm looking to training my magic levels.It is boring if you're a hardcore looking for RPG's that look so superbly 3d (DirectX or OpenGL) but if you can understand that a Java applet can only do so much graphics-wise, then Runescape isn't entirely a bad thing. I play it with moderation; I'm not a die-hard fan but I'm no eye-rolling critic either

I, myself, do polyphasic sleep, although it's a bit more out of necessity than choice.Anyway, I'd just like to share what I think. Note that I'm only speaking for myself here and what is ay may not necessarily apply to everyone else.1. It does not improve memory in the long run. It's a lot like cramming, you'd get a temporary boost but whatever you learned while you were cramming, or before sleeping for 2 hours, tends to be lost after just two days. I'd be first to admit I have a bad memory now and couldn't remember as much as I was supposed to have learned from college.2. It is hardly good for the body. For one, an inadequate sleep often gives me an unpleasant headache upon waking up. I am aware of stuff like Circadian cycles and, honestly, I'd rather have eight straight hours of sleep (or ten, or twelve) rather than several short naps.3. I also agree that it takes roughly an hour to get to REM sleep. It is during the REM cycles that we dream. An experiment has revealed that people woken up during their REM cycles temporarily remember their dreams. In my case, I do remember having vivid dreams but waking up so shortly after (no thanks to the infernal alarm clock) my body feels more tired than refreshed.4. It disrupted my digestion. I would now get hungry at irregular hours and, oftentimes, in the most inconvenient of moments.5. It is hardly healthy. On weeks I had to adjust my sleep patterns, I was more susceptible to colds and fever where I didn't use to be so sickly.6. It creates unsightly bumps/craters on my face. Ugh. (Thank heavens for the dermatological sciences)

Like I said, luck. It just so happened that our ancestors discovered fire, made flint tools or whatnot a little bit earlier than the rest of the primate world. By the sheer luck at acquiring such windfall technologies, they have pretty much squashed the hopes of other primates to evolve and progress. Like I said, again, if monkeys were to be left alone for the same amount of time we, humans, were left in peace, I wouldn't be too surprised if some of them were building spacecrafts right now. (Apparently, someone likes to reply without reading posts) Do your research. What you just gave out is a long-enduring myth, an urban legend, if you will. It is proven wrong here. I don't believe humans alone are aliens. However, if one were to say that the first few seeds of life on earth came from elsewhere, then it is not too hard to imagine a meteorite carrying organic compounds crashed onto earth quite a long time ago. Then everyone and everything, from the simplest cyano-bacteria to the majestic blue whales would have been alien

What the... oh please, you flatter the human race too much.I'd rather not expound on the concept of a soul, for it is not exactly something easily proven by facts alone. However, I doubt that all the other animals operate solely on instinct. True, a lot them, like the simplest jelly fishes, live boring lives doing things over and over again, day in and day out simply because they were "programmed" to. However, there are also creatures higher up the evolutionary ladder that can pretty much do the same as humans, given the chance.A lot of primates, as a matter of fact, are like humans in that we are all born with the instinct to imitate and it is from this instinct that we learn. All of us. Experiments with chimps have proved that they, too, are capable of learning. Heck, even mice can learn! Practically anything whose memory last longer than a goldfish can learn! Well, that might be an extreme statement, I admit, but you get the point.The only thing is that we were able to develop the skill to abstract out ideas. If the monkeys were left alone, got past their screeches, howls and chatter, and developed a higher form of language, then in just a few thousand years, they could probably be building skyscrapers as well.It is interesting to note that the reason we are at our place in the universe is not because of a trait that made us "superior" to all other creatures. Really, we are here because we are lucky. If that comet didn't end the Saurian period, or if the Panama didn't cut off the current from the Pacific to Africa, then we could probably end up as meat on a velociraptor's plate or test specimens of a bunch of chimpanzees.Lastly, I don't dispute the fact that we could pretty much be aliens. However, if we were, then big deal. So would every other creature in this world. Also, I don't get the point about hands, bugs and soda cans. Maybe you could clarify that a little bit more?

I'm so, so sorry for that. My initial reaction was, "WTF, I am not implying anyone's philosophical inclinations here!" but, looking back on my post, I just realized I was. For being too emotionally involved, effectively writing a bit too passionately, I apologize. I'm sure it is although I'm not sure which aspects were obvious to you and which ones, to me. 1. Any action you take, death will always be the result. Life is, shall we say, as much a process of slowly dying as it is of living. 2. There is also a HUGE difference between "the only other alternative is a slow and painful death," which was your post and "the only other visible alternative is a slow and painful death," which is what my post really says. I won't deny that there really are other ways. Heck, looking at suicide cases from a third-person POV, one could easily discern other alternatives. These, however, are not quite so visible to the victims. They probably are in a state of mind that ironically makes it more difficult for them to find the solution they seek. I almost said this before but I didn't. Now I will. WTF?!? Ah, there we go. That feels better Really, what the... I'm still shocked. I was, honestly, not expecting that. For one, it is too extreme an example (but then again, I also did the same before ) Still, I don't think stepping on a piece of gum alone comprises a life that sucks. If anything, I doubt that simply stepping on a gum would trigger a suicide case. Augh! Really, though, I can't think of anything else to say to that. It's too simple; suicide is usually the result of a complex sequence of mishaps and misfortunes. Here we go again. Where on earth would I get help? Argh! That sounded too personal XD Where on earth would they get help? 1. Shrinks usually cost some hefty sum so broke victims can't have this choice. Example: beggars 2. Some victims fail to recognize the help they could get from their friends. Example: those "gone astray" and estranged from their peers 3. Some have no friends, or even acquaintances at all. Example: Anonymous beggars 4. Some have completely lost hope. Example: HIV positives 5. Some have been scarred so deep there is practically no hope of emotional recovery. Example: rape victims Ah, yes. This is a way of thinking I do like. Might I add that I myself, plan to die at the age of sixty, unless something worth growing old for comes up? At the age of 57, I should probably start looking for manufacturers of cyanide pills Lastly, I do think there's simply too much of us here on this planet. Not all humans, though, contribute anything remotely useful to the evolution and progress (sic) of the human specie. We could do with less mouths to feed, don't you think so? (Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a jerk for even thinking of that)