zyzzyvette

I don't neccessarily think the world would be a better place by default, but I do think that people would be more willing to think about their actions, which would be a great help. Many times people are hurtful to others because they believe their religion excuses it, and because religion is a no-no to question, they don't want to believe their actions might be unfounded or inappropriate. If people did things based on their own personal thoughts of right and wrong, they might be more willing to acknowledge wrongdoing on their part. They might even be a bit more honest about their reasons for doing things, since I find that some people, rather than simply misinterpreting their religious texts, use religion as an excuse to follow their own paths of misanthropy. No religion, no excuse.On the other hand, a lot of people use religion as a crutch, to keep themselves happy, so no religion might mean more people who feel depressed or anarchic. These people could possibly go out and cause more problems. It's a really tough question, but I think that if there were ways to support the people who NEED to have religious beliefs, maybe counselling, or a society that focuses more on the emotional needs of people, the world would be a better place. If we didn't have proper support for those people, I think that our problems would stay at the same level, if not increase.

Gods were created by people, as religion can be a pretty useful thing when used responsibly. It can be used to unite and/or control groups of people, and it gives the believers some hope and guidelines on how to live their lives. It gives them someone to blame when things go wrong, someone to help them when they're confused, someone to be with them when they're alone... and the list goes on. Its just easier for me to believe in the existence of people with voids to fill than a logical impossibility.

Wouldn't it be more efficient just to grow the crops? It seems to me that such a process would be very inefficient, and would consume a lot of energy... any land we saved from farmland would likely be used over 10x in energy production (wind farms, etc). Semi-related comment- the problem with world hunger isn't that we aren't making enough. We have plenty- the problem is distributing it all to those who need it. I doubt a country suffering from hunger would have money to spend on technology like that.Would be a sweet thing to show off, though.

That's a good question, I've never even thought of that before. Maybe he got out, set up the camera, then went back in so that the camera could film the dramatic "first steps"? After seeing that alien autopsy video on TV one day, I have difficulty believing things just because the footage looks real... but on the other hand, its difficult to believe that a conspiracy involving so many people could happen without any leaks. Plus, if the moon landing was fake, where did all those moon rocks come from? You'd think all those scientists would have noticed if it was just a plain old rock.

One Socials teacher I had would read out the entire chapter/section of the text that we were studying that day, then repeat it over again. We all had a copy of the textbook, so we could read it ourselves, but instead he chose to read the entire book to us multiple times (over the course of the year). This would not have been so bad except for his complete lack of enthusiasm. We nicknamed him "Mister Monotone"; the entire school now recognizes him by this name.

One NDP member (the third most prominent political party in my country) refuses to admit there is such thing as 'reverse' racism (black/brown/yellow-on-white). She hosts her own website, including a forum... no white people are allowed to post in the "Racism" forum, since they "don't understand the issue".

The government covers up things all the time; most of the time what they're hiding probably isn't too juicy, but they cover each other's backsides, that's for sure.Although some conspiracy theories seem pretty insane, I don't like it how people use 'conspiracy theory' to connote that the person who came up with it/discovered it is automatically nutters. It just bothers me that, despite having a long history of lying governments and politicians, people automatically believe anything they say and write off anyone who disagrees.

It'd be nice if everyone could do as you did, since I am getting very bored of HS, but in order to get into the program I want to take, I need to take high school level courses (maths, sciences) to lay down a foundation for the courses in post-secondary. A GED might be great for someone studying a creative field, but it doesn't work so well for engineering. To answer your questions: It gives kids a few extra years to sort out their life? A lot of people don't know what they want to do by middle school, let alone where they want to study or how they'll get the money. Besides, if we abolished general education as a rule, we'd have a bunch of middle-aged business managers with atrocious spelling. Just because its not needed for you to get a job, doesn't mean its not good for you. Begging the question... I think we do need it, so I would be willing to spend my tax money on it, though my income is too low for me to pay any taxes atm. a.) Not everyone can do it in 1 week b.) A GED doesn't cover the requirements for many post-secondary programs, mainly science and applied science (pure science, engineering, medicine, etc). c.) Learning over a longer period of time gives you a greater mastery of whatever you study, since its ingrained more deeply into your memory. For me, and many others, its not either/or. It's both/neither, as stated above. I think its great that you've managed to accelerate things in your life as you have, but that sort of thing really only works in very specific situations. If it were to work for more academic programs, it would require a lot of modifications to the system we have now (namely, teaching HS level maths and sciences in college/uni), and really would not save that much time. I don't believe it would ever work for those who require hands-on teaching or a little more time studying (to avoid the word "dumb" ).

Just because some study finds a correlation, doesn't mean one causes the other. One study found a correlation between shoe size and intelligence- people with larger feet got higher test scores. This was because the study was performed in a k-12 school. Kindergarteners, on average had the lowest scores, and the smallest feet. You really have to take such studies with a grain of salt (heck, a shaker); not only are many of these studies highly flawed, so are the IQ tests themselves. Sometimes this is done on purpose by those who want a certain result (like my example), and sometimes it's simply an error on the part of the researchers who design and interpret these experiments. This article explains it much better than me, if you're interested in reading it: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

- Arrogant people, especially if they have no good reason to be- People who can't spell properly, or who don't make any attempt at proper grammar, or who mix up homophones (they're, their, etc)- People who use "ie" to mark an example- People who use big words to try to sound superior, and USE THEM WRONG! - People who type in ALL CAPS or AlT cApS- People with no sense of humorNot in a bad mood, just thought I might as well add to the pile.

School sucks, but its pretty much mandatory, unless you like living in your parents' house for eternity. Plus, there are some good points to consider as well: SOME of the teachers are great. I've had some sucky teachers too, mostly in middle school, but there has also been a continuous string of great people to look up to- funny people, ex-engineers, nice people, people who have traveled all over and seen amazing things... Some teachers are impossible to like, but if you go into every class expecting to have a crummy teacher, you'll just find one or two of their flaws, and use it as an excuse to pick apart an otherwise great person. Yeah, you could do that if you wanted, but it's a much less painful experience for you if you at least try to enjoy yourself.It's a great/easy place to meet people. How many of your friends are (or were during HS, for the graduates) people you met at school- in classes, extracurriculars, or through other school-friends? Enough said. Some of the stuff you learn is actually important (though most probably isn't). We've all got those classes that are utterly pointless, but we have to take anyways because otherwise we can't grad or get into the university/college of our choice. On the other hand, I'd be willing to bet that most of us have/had at least one or two classes that did do us some good. Home ec, shop and accounting classes benefit everyone because you can put those skills to use at home. Art and music is good for those who need a way to relax or express themselves. PE keeps some of us fit. Almost any class in HS can be extended into a career, if you so choose.So yeah, school can be pretty terrible, if you want it to be... but it can also be a great experience. It depends a lot on the attitude you take.

Your parents are only trying to keep you safe; unfortunately some parents go overboard... A parent's job isn't just to protect their kids, but teach them to be independent adults, which requires some sort of transition. It's totally unreasonable for anyone to expect that their kid will be totally unable to function without them the day before their 18th, and be just fine the day after. Although its not entirely their fault (the increasing media coverage of 'bad news' undoubtedly freaks them out), its my personal opinion that this is a major cause of the whole "boomerang kid" problem. Train your kid to be helpless without you, and they will be!My parents used to do the exact same thing, but they've become more reasonable after several "gentle reminders" that I'm getting older. Things will probably go more smoothly if you try to be a little diplomatic than I was, but hey, it got the job done.

If you're getting 30gigs of email, consider just getting multiple email accounts for home, business, webmaster use, etc... because theres no WAY anyone should be getting anywhere NEAR that much email related to just one thing. Plus, you'd probably need the extra edge organizing it anyway.

Crimson Editor and Photoshop. CE is a nice little program if you're used to doing the code in notepad; it's basically the same, except with tabs and syntax highlighting. Great if you like to have half a dozen files open at once.

I always thought mermaids were a myth, made up to explain children born with sirenomelia. Anyways, I haven't seen this picture, but even if I had, I doubt I would take it at face value. Image editing software is way too advanced these days to believe something based on a photograph; its too easy to 'shop up a hoax. Even before software like this, there have been more complex hoaxes (like that video of 'alien surgery'). (After a quick search, I found the picture on this website, along with an article, if anyone's interested. http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ )

The second one sort of reminds me of some guy dodging bullets but I can't really tell if that's what it is or not... they're both very nice though, better than I've done. Did you use photoshop?

I'm getting one for sure. I need (well, want) a new console, this one is cheap and has lots of fun games planned for it. Plus its got that new motion-sensor thing- I cant wait to play the new Zelda.

I voted PS2, my second choice would be DS... Because those are the ones I own (besides my comp which lags, and 64 whose controllers wear out too fast). They have great lil games on them. My only complaint about my PS2 is that it doesnt work anymore, its stopped reading discs.

Nintendo has promised that the Wii will not cost more than $250 USD. And even if it did go over, it'd still be a good deal less than the PS3. If it was not for the price, I most likely would have bought a PS3, but come on! I am not made of money here.

I know someone whos tried to get into polyphasic sleep several times; apparently its quite hard at first before your body has adjusted properly... I dunno about health problems/benefits but I hear it can cause lucid dreaming, which would be pretty awesome.Unfortunately I am addicted to sleep, so its not for me.

Rock, I just feel that its more diverse in many different ways. You can listen to indie, metal, 'old/classic' rock (I don't enjoy this one too much, but many do), punk, etc, and they all have their distinguishing qualities... maybe it is just me but the little rap I have heard all sounds fairly similar, it seems like a narrower genre.

I've heard a lot of nice things about India, it seems like a nice peaceful place most of the time, and culture-rich too. I'm from Canada, and I wouldnt have it any other way.

Jimmy that photo is amazing... has it been touched up at all or is that all natural? wlite's are quite nice too, look pretty pro. :PEDIT: I forgot to add that Jimmy's pic is now my desktop bg

Yeah, it depends. A little jealousy can be cute, but if I was with someone who got upset (whiny, angry, crying, whatever) every single time I talked to the opposite sex, I would probably get extremely annoyed and just leave. Because honestly, its one thing to know you're cared about, but its another to know that you're being manipulated.

I think what people need is a life philosophy... unfortunately many choose to take the pre-made ones (religious philosophies) instead of going through life trying to figure out the world on their own. I mean that is their choice, and I'd say religions get a lot of things right in terms of 'morality' but it is the things they get wrong that worries me sometimes. I think that people who choose to be religious should do a lot of heavy thinking about their religion's teachings- its okay to disagree sometimes.