adriantc

I don't see why it wouldn't be normal as long as there is a sense of decency involved... But no one can really define decency so I guess it is somewhat normal to ban public displays of affection (I don't know why but the use of the short form - "PDA" makes me think of the electronic gadget) until we all agree to what is decent and what is not!PS: What about same sex public displays of affection? I am homophobic and I would never ever allow something like that... That rule is for boys. Girls can do whatever they like... ... We even encourage them to do so!

Sometimes being an observer isn't enough. It is a known fact that even when you see something you are still inclined to do it until you feel it on your own skin. Like when the parents say... "Don't play with fire! You will get burned!" ... the child still does it and when he eventually gets burned he learns the lesson and next time he won't do it. Guess that is the curiosity in the human spirit... We has to do it and see what happens!

I can't agree with you on that. A true scientist needs hard proof until he believes something so I think science is incompatible with religion which is based on faith rather then proof. The key concept behind science is "proof". If there is none there is no science involved. Just like with aliens. A true scientist will never believe until you bring him a green alien to analyze. Many say science is compatible with religion, but the truth is they study different things... one study material stuff other spiritual stuff; one requires evidence other demands faith. Pretty different... But that is another discussion. Of course, that's to assume that the parent(s) taught themselves the right thing. When you think about the commands or teachings given to you, you can determine the reason(s) why they were given to you, on whether those things are useful, beneficial or just plain non-sense. The way i interpret the verse that this topic is based on is like this: Listen to your parents when they are correct. Back then, a lot of people did foolish things which literally cost them their lives. But foolish behavior, no matter what era you're in, can still cost you your life. And, just like the laws in the Bible, the laws established today in many countries are set to provide common sense; however, some people need to learn the hard way, but this hard way can literally cost you your life. All of humanities knowledge comes from trial and error. There is no other way to discover things. In other words you must do something wrong, learn from it and do it better next time. And yes it also depends on what kind of parents somebody has...

I think you are totally right. Not that who wrote the Bible (I am an atheist) thought about alcohol and cigarettes, but it is a known fact that a child's mind is very weak and fragile and can easily be seduced but wrong things and wrong people. So a stronger mind is needed to keep the weak one on the right track. Indirectly that means a healthier lifestyle and a longer lifespan. And day by day that is more true since there are more and more things that do us harm.And I strongly believe that in most cases (not all) parents influence is needed. The main thing parents have is not money, but the experience of life and that is far more precious then everything. Parents know what they did wrong in life and a responsible parent should take care that his children won't do the same mistake(s) all over again. And unlike all other people in the entire world they only want what is good for you. (with a few exceptions where parents are themselves neglected children).Bottom line is that parents are good and it's not the genes that carry on the species but the collective experience. We can archive some kind of immortality by living in a small part in our children. As I see it, it is a parents responsibility to grow their children into a better version of themselves. We must turn our children in what we haven't (couldn't) been (be). If everyone would take that for granted the world would be a far better place to live in.One last thing I must say... usually if a child has problems from a young age the parents are to blame. If he does anything wrong, it is also the failure of the parents!PS: I have been accustomed to authority from when I was really young and I have grown to like it very much. Some like freedom, but I am the guy that always was home early, never drunk, never smoked (except narghile on very special occasions... don't know if that is the English word... the thing the Arabs smoke). My father is accustomed to authority by the nature of his job and his father before him so it might be something genetic. I really don't need more freedom... I will grow my children in the exact same fashion, since I consider that, with my good and bad, I have turned out well. I have when I see young people like me smoking and even worse drinking a lot or simply acting uncivilized. Above all I hate people that want to attract attention doing wrong things on the street, in the subway, anywhere...

I wanted to open this topic after I have read a book named just like this topic: "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. I have heard it was highly praised by critics and I now know why. Weisman's book talks about mankind and how its presence has corrupted nature. It raises some interesting theories that I would like to discuss with you. Before analyzing it, I recommend you read the book... It is the best (without a doubt) book of the year of 2007. 1. Menkind and it's final legacy. The book imagines a world without humans, a world where nature takes over once again. In the changes that happen we can see the amount of problems we have caused over the years. Global warming, pollution, extinction of animals--all of them closely related... What I find interesting is the resilience of nature that, no matter what, tries to rebuild everything from scratch. The examples are countless: animals thriving near Chernobyl where there are bridges still to hot to cross because of the radiation level. In the Korean Demilitarized Zone, a zone of 5 miles where animals find a refuge since very few men disturb them. What is truly painful is too see that many of the things we now create will be the first that nature will destroy. The last man made objects to remain on earth (with some exceptions) will in fact be the very first we created. A world without people will revert step by step to the condition it once had before we appeared. It seems that nothing good from mankind will remain. What will outlive us are going to be pollution, the plastics and our deadly nuclear waste. That, together with the radio waves we emit are going to be mankind's final legacy to the universe. (Something I'm sure you don't know... A common embalming fluid--formaldehyde--oxidizes and becomes formic acid a poison that can reach the water tables... "Careless people, polluting even from the tomb." Weisman says) 2. How to fix our future? Now that we see the future is very dark for the human species the question rises: Is there anything we can do? (I'd like to hear your comments on the next one) The answer according to Weisman is population control. The idea is that the large number of humans simply need too much resources so no matter what we do nature is going to suffer since it can't (in it's wild state) support such a number of persons. Weisman interviewed Les Knight, the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (yes this movement does really exist). As the name suggests they what humans decide to stop procreating in the hope that the last generation will enjoy life like never before. The final part is ended noble and right, but as someone commented on an Internet website, hasn't he seen Children of Men... That is why Weisman gives an alternate future, not as radical but with almost the same results. Why not impose a one child per women policy. You may not know that every 4 days the population of the world increases with a whopping 1 million. And according to the UN around 2050 mankind will number 10 billion people. Far more then our planet can handle. With the one child per women policy by 2075 the world population will be reduced by almoust half to 3.43 billion and by 2100 to 1.6 billion, the level from the 19th century. Well, I hope you had the time to read the entire post. I look forward to reading your comments. P.S.: Buy the book. It is really worth the effort, time and money alike! Notice from truefusion: P.S. Italic bbcode is not Quote bbcode. Addressing...

I share your point of view. Like yourself I have lost faith in human kind... Maybe mankind has just reached it's potential and it can't simply go further. What happens to us as a species is simply justice. Just like in evolution when you are not capable, when you don't desire (deserve) to live you don't. Survival of the fittest. If an animal were to kill for pleasure it would soon find itself out of food to eat and it would starve to death. In some way that is happening (going to happen) to mankind. For those thinking that global warming is not real... You don't have to be a scientist to see that global warming is happening; you don't need statistics to tell you the temperature has risen a few degrees in the last few decades. You simply don't have to listen to anybody. You simply can feel it... extreme weather, really hot summers, mild winters. Those who say different are paid or influenced by those who made global warming... the fuel industry. Do you think they like losing $ as long as there is a single drop of oil in the ground. The only thing they care about is not the future of mankind or even the future of their children but how many billions they have in their bank account. We all know what happened 2-3 weeks ago with the economic situation of the world. It is an omen for what it is to come. The US is (admit it or not) in recession. China is on full throttle but who knows for how long. I think that in our life time (50-60 years) we are going to see enormous changes - for better or for worse... Something is bound to happen!

The very first pets I had where fish... Don't really remember who many there where; just that they died really quick! I had just bought them and a wonderful tank with plants, sand and lightening - everything I could wish for. I got the fish around 11 am. What I haven't bought was something stable to stay on... They lived almost an hour until I heard a loud crash and then all my pets (those who survived the crash) where all over my living room. Some of them lived for a couple more days, but they finally died of internal trauma. It was a mess as you can imagine and I felt sorry for them, but its not I got attached to them or anything.With my second pet the story is very different. Since I had the fish experience my parents and I decided to get something far more easy to take care of. So I bough a turtle. He name was Leonardo (for the Ninja Turtles). He lived for seven and a half years and finally died of a eye infection. The infection didn't really kill him, he starved to death since he could not open his eyes to eat. Didn't have money (maybe I had but I didn't want to spend them) to take him to the doctor. When he died I cried (one of the few times I did) and I was almost 17... I buried him in the garden in front of my flat in a chocolate box... with all the honors he deserved. I always imagined I would give it to my child and he would take care of him for another 20-30 years.Two months after Leonardo died I bough two more turtles which I named Leonardo jr. and Donatella (it should - read hope - be a male and a female, but there is no way to tell). They are now two and a half years old and grew a lot since the day I bough them. My two turtles have quite a personality. They are my alarm clock . Every day around 7:15 am they start swimming really loudly because they know that when I wake up I feed them. But they never miss or be too late ot too soon... every day at 7:15 am sharp... As if they have some internal clock. It's pretty amazing how animals can adapt and the way they get the conditional reflexes (since this is a conditional reflex).At my grandparents, in the countryside I have a lot of cats and a dog (named Lion in my language). The dog is a living relic he is over 18 years old, he doesn't really see anymore and he doesn't hear as good as he used to. For those of you who think that they should only give them dog food I have to tell you Lion has been fed only with cooked food... remains of cooked food that is. And he still lived to be so old.... One time my grandmother had 3 adult cats and 4 kittens. It may seem much, but it really isn't since the cats usually travel at the neighbors too. There are, just like with people, some loyal ones...

I have watched "An Inconvenient Truth" recently and I must say I have been impressed by who big our problem is (becoming). As a result I have decided to change (as much I can) my lifestyle with emphasis on turning off the lights and being much more careful with using paper. I don't know how much I will be able to resist, but it is the first time I actually took some action rather then complain about global warming and doing nothing. Grow trees faster... It may actually be possible with the development of genetic manipulation, but I'm not sure it will ever compensate (in terms of amount) to what we cut down. A normal tree takes a decade or two to grow enough to make a difference in Oxygen/CO2 ratio. Lowering that 10 times (don't think that is possible even with genetic modifications and great growing conditions) is still not near enough. the horrible truth is that it is far more easier to destroy something then actually building it. Man now has the tools (and the need) to cut a forest that has grown in (most cases) hundreds of years, if not thousands in 1 year maybe even less. More important this is something that requires time, time which unfortunately we no longer have. On the long term and with a drastic reduction in deforestation it could be a potential solution. PS: Regarding the global warming issue I have found a video on youtube that is really interesting. Some of you may have already seen it... I like it because he putsit so plain and simply. No need for fancy demonstrations, just a simple game with odds! CLICK HERE!

What you call "The Megapixel Myth" has two sides. One is what everybody talks about... CMOS and CCD sensors with their advantages and disadvatages. CMOS for being cheaper and smaller and CCD for quality. But there is a second part to this myth, a part which a lot of people ignore and it covered up (just like in the first case) by marketing policies. It's not only the type and number of megapixels that matters in picture quality but also the size of the lens and of the sensor itself. In practice that means a 7 megapixel SLR will do a lot better then a normal (more smaller) 10 megapixel camera. Why that happens? Here are the two main reasons: 1. On a SLR camera size is not a big issue (since it is build for professional or semi-profesional use people using those cameras don't care that much for size in relation to the quality of the pictures it takes). That means you can have a larger sensor size. Why is that important? Because if the same amount of pixels (or more) are crowded onto a smaller surface every pixel will receive a smaller amount of light. It may be 10 megapixels but it will look just a 7 megapixel or even worse. 2. The size of the lens is also really important. A larger lens means sharper images as more light gets to the sensor. So next time you go shopping for a new digital camera don't look only at the price and number of megapixels that the camera has, but also the way it is built. A golden rule when it comes to digital camers: SMALLER SIZE MEANS LOWER QUALITY! PS: I have a Sony video camera that has 3 megapixels for still images (I am satisfied with the quality and the fact that I don't have to carry another digital camera with me) and a HP (somewhat older then the video camera) 3,3 megapixel digital camera. The video camera (!?!) takes much better pictures then the digital camera. It wasn't designed for still images, but it has the great advantage of sensor size... while the HP has 2-2,5cm lens the Sony has 4-4,5. That proves it isn't all about the number of megapixels! Here is a small quote for Wikipedia that gives the same explination I did:

I used Netscape for a while before finally settling for Mozilla Firefox. In fact Netscape was my second browser. At first I used, like everybody who has just purchased a computer for the first time, Internet Explorer. Once I heard it was no good I started looking for alternatives. My first contact with Netscape was disappointing, so I switched to Opera (which I used for almost an year). Since then I have been a faithful used of Mozilla Firefox.It's sad when a browser that challenges Microsoft's supremacy goes away, but something good may come out of this. The few people using Netscape will probably switch to another browser (not back to Internet Explorer). So it could be considered a good thing for Opera or Firefox.As for what browser is next? I think in the future we will have only a few browsers with enough users to be considered true browsers. If you ask me the future belongs to Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and maybe one or two other browsers. The rest can be ignored... If people are to switch for Internet Explorer they will get what their neighbor has, or what their friends have. It is a snowball effect... I hope the great winner of the browser competition will be Mozilla Firefox, but it looks like it will take some time before it overtake Internet Explorer.

After reading the part with the female officer I can say without a doubt that the US is the country of all possibilities. Like come on... sexual harassment when a man has photos with woman. What's next? She will sue the Playboy editor... That's way too much! In the US you can sue anybody for anything this days. You must hire a black person if he comes to an interview because if you don't he will sue you. In my country sexual harassment is very much only 2 words. I only heard a few cases of people getting sued and convicted for it. Of course that is bad, but also saying it is sexual harassment when it isn't is also pretty bad. I'm not defending CopperZepher, in fact if I would have seen this thread sooner I would have told him to bail out right away, but I would have never imagined it would get this far. You're right when you say it is only his side of the story, but how much could he distort the truth... Sexual harassment has two words and that has to count for something. I think sexual means something related to sex, so unless he made some dirty proposals in the letter I fail to see where is the sexual part of the harassment. For what he has written he didn't seem to be someone with questionable intentions or morality. He did a horrible mistake by releasing her name and address, but I'm not sure I wouldn't do the same if I were in his situation. If he is guilty for something he is guilty for not thinking too much before taking an action. He is guilty of not holding his feelings for himself... The bottom line is: I can't see where sexual harassment fits, so I can't understand why he got fired. Instead he could have just received a warning. Still he shouldn't have gotten involved in this in the first place!

I never posted (or I don't remember to) in the Dating And Relationships thread so this is a first for me. Guess I never had anything worth posting for... When I saw the topic I wanted to post so I could get some credits (guilty as charged), but after I have read a part of you last post (so I wouldn't spoil the story) I decided to read it all and really post a meaningful post (srry... bad choice of words!). So I started reading you whole "adventure" which unfortunately ended so bad.Before posting my thoughts I should point out that my experience with girls is very much limited (all though I am slightly older then you... I'm 19 and 1/2). Now the hole deal is over, but I think you should really think about your experience very deeply since it does teach you some (life) lessons... unfortunately in the hard way. The thing is I also had a slightly similar situation 2-3 weeks ago with a girl I deeply loved (or at least, as you did, though so) After going to a party at which we both felt great she didn't reply to any of my phones/IM/emails/SMS... And when she finally did she broke up with me in a SMS. She simply did not want to reply to my phone calls. Wednesday the party... great - Saturday ... get dumped by SMS without absolutely any kind of warning. Saturday evening we had a plans for a romantic dinner, I had a gift ready for her and instead I got dumped and even worse without any explanation. I felt and I still do just as you do betrayed in some sort. But as I have said that are life's lessons. We should open our eyes and our mind before going for a girl... A leap of faith like in our cases is simply not enough...Returning to your situation... I know it is too late now but you shouldn't have got involved in the first place. Not because of the age but because of the status (married with children). Or at least you should have bailed out when you could... right after you realized that the feelings from the first post aren't that real. And more important the biggest mistake of all was writing the letter. I have to admit that as I was reading you posts it sounded like a good thing, but at the end it became like a sword with two edges and you have got sliced by it. The letter was the undeniable evidence, the one that got you fired. It is simply horrible she used it that way, but you should have though about it when you wrote it. It would have been a different story if you would have just told her, not written her anything. I know it is much harder to do that but words don't stand as evidence while writing does...The only thing that I can't simply understand is the gravity of the whole deal... Why is so important such a small love (if you can call it that) to get you fired! It comes to me as a shock the extent of the damage done by a simple letter. (I thought the USA was the country of "free to do whatever you want"... I didn't even dream that morality was so important). In my country, which is still highly influenced by religion (which in turn considers cheating a great offense) such a letter would have no important consequences. Far from getting someone as young as you fired... As I have said you situation comes as a complete shock to me!I don't really understand if you make a connection between the accident and her treason. Maybe it is just my imagination... Anyway I am sorry for the way you ended you post... The difference between the first and the latest update is light years away. I know I am not in your situation (which I have to admit is pretty hard), but I think you shouldn't totally blame her. I don't know all the details, but the first thing that crossed my mind was that her husband has found out and forced her to "stab" you. She may have been forced to do that but some events unknown to you...So take this as a lesson... for you and for us all not to get involve in relations with a questionable morality! I'm sorry for what you had to endure. But I suggest you don't make this the end of you're life. It's just the beginning... Always remember that there are people in the world with a lot more life or death problems then you and me.

I think the Internet could max out some time in the future, but I don't think it will crash or something. When and if the Internet will max out then the cost will become to great; bandwidth will become more expensive and so the rapid growth of the Internet will halt. The Internet will crash when civilization will crash... it may stop growing as it does today but it won't simply crash. But as the Internet grows so will the technology... optic cables will be replaced by something better and the costs will go down. Of course that will not e enough to compensate, but it should give us more time. On a small scale you are right, but the Internet is so much bigger. When you access a server from the USA and you are in Europe it is much more then a simple UTP cable. The costs skyrocket fast. Not to mention some connections are made by satellite. That is why bandwidth is so expensive... In short we aren't wiring as much as our traffic needs. And when request is larger then the offer the prices go up... Basic market economy. So the Internet won't really max out but it will become to expensive to grow...

I have heard about the Acid2 test, but I didn't know it is something so easy to do... only rendering a page with so much difference over the browsers. I have run the Acid 2 test on both Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.11 and Mozilla Firefox is much closer to the reference rendering. So it is pretty hard for me to think that Internet Explorer 8 will pass it so easily... You should also read this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/section/technology?from=switched For those who don't bother to read the article it seems Internet Explorer 8 was working in a "Standards Mode" when it passed the Acid2 test. This "Standards Mode" is very suspicious since it means there are more modes and it may very well be that "Standards Mode" isn't enabled by default. And I don't think we will see an Internet Explorer comeback even in the case that Internet Explorer is fully complaint will the standards. Opera has long passed the Acid 2 test, Mozilla Firefox 3 is already complaint with standard so there is no way we will see an Internet Explorer comeback.

I have an 8 year old Yahoo! Mail account and for the past month or so I have noticed a huge increase in the number of spam emails I receive. No only I get tons of spam (100-150 emails daily), but some of them get into my Inbox. And I'm sure that didn't always happen. I have to admit I have been pretty careless when it comes to reveling my email to some "questionable" websites ( ), but I never had such a huge amount of spam. I wonder if this is a general thing? Have you noticed any increase in spam activity and a decrease in the ability of your spam protection to intercept the unwanted emails?

Voted for Google. I use it even on my mobile when I have to search for something... The difference is noticeable! Go Google!

Do you really think the oil corporations will let those technologies mature? No. Just like in the pharmaceutical industry where there is no real need for a cure for HIV or cancer (a healthy men does not pay for medicine)... As long as there will be a drop of oil in the ground the world will still run on oil! For optimists like you I strongly suggest you see this movie... Who killed the electric car? And it's not only the greed of the oil companies that will keep the oil flowing, but the very fabric of the world economy. You can power a car with electricity. You can even power a bus with it, but you can't power heavy industrial machinery with it. Whoever controls the oil controls the world. If you would control oil and such control the world would you tell the world... hey use other fuels- don't use oil! Of course not! You would like to keep your position. That is what the USA does... Iraq wasn't about the war on terror, but about the black gold, the so important oil! I may even say that at this point the world is very much doomed. We can't simply change so much of our lives in so little time! The world hasn't seen fewer wars because the world never saw such a total domination from one single country. At this point the world has one ruler... the United States of America. Once it will show signs of weakness (and I already think it does) other countries will come forward to claim the world. One certain candidate now is China. It has the men-power and the economy to one day dominate the world (remember that 80% of everything is made in China) Not to mention the fact fewer wars don't necessarily mean fewer deaths and less destruction. In WW2 there were 60 million death in one war, far more then in tens of wars. so there are fewer but with much more destructive capabilities. Remember it only takes one war to wipe out the human kind... millions of years of evolution destroyed in one single moment. So you have to see the danger is far greater now!

I am speechless.... WOW! I have heard about a new multi touch (screen) technology, but I didn't know they have got so far. It is absolutely awesome. As much as I hate Microsoft I do have to admit they invest a lot in research something that Linux can never afford.Everything is great about this technology, but what I really liked was the way they exchanged files. Oh my God, it was like a dream come true. So easy and so fun. It will revolutionize the way we interact with the computer. It will take some time till they will make it smaller, but the concept is extremely interesting.Still I think we are at least 5 even 10 years from mass production. As I am a future programmer I have to say things are really going to get really hard. But I guess they said the very same thing when they saw the first PC. A new advanced programming language will be required, not only as a language but as a programming concept. The future sure looks bright! I can only imagine what our children will have....

I haven't played the game, but i watched the video on YouTube. I find it rather nice "directed"... there isn't much nudity involved. I don't really understand why the Singapore government banned it. They must be over-reacting. I remember years ago a scene like the one from Mass Effect in Mafia (by the way what a great game that was and what a great storyline it had... it does deserve a comeback) and no one complained about that.And besides there are games with a lot more important reasons to get banned like Manhunt....

Hello Mr. USA! First of all I haven't quoted anything from any media sources, TV or otherwise. They are simply my impression...Now I don't like you attitude... I think it's something borrowed from your president... You know the "we are the strongest, the most powerful nation in the world... we can do whatever we want with anybody" does Iraq sound a bell for you. I like that tone even less and it really needs an answer. I don't know why when you read Western civilization you read USA. I mean the developed world (a world that Romania barely makes into... but it's not just a dot on the map... and if you would stop being that arrogant and read history you would understand why). It might be a shock to you but the USA is not the center of the universe. The world will go round just the same without the USA. Maybe even better who knows? So please do drop that arrogance fast. Yeah... 200 years you say...You great civilization is like how old? 400 years? Life in my poor country is dated to well... beginning of the human civilization (yeah... you have read that well... the remains of the oldest modern human.... *person* sapiens sapiens .... from the entire Europe where found in Romania). But if you do want facts... Herodotus spoke of the people living in present day Romania in 513 BC. That puts it what 2000 years older that your imported civilization? I'm not sure you can call it a civilization since you are mostly ... well english. If it weren't for american football, baseball, hotdog and Halloween you could be called tourists from England forcing your way of life into the natives (another unhappy episode of your great history... the one you learned so much from ... hint hint Iraq). So can you call yourself a civilization when you only have 400 years of history and the biggest difference between you and someone from england are some games, a few words and the fact you drive on the other way of the road. Beside the war with mexico, the independence war and the civil war what other great and destructive wars where waged on american soil? Your civilization is so great not because you are so smart as a people, but because you had what is called a gigantic geographical advantage. There is a huge water mass between you and the birthplace of the human civilization. And as much as you don't like it history repeats itself in USA too. Yeah you learned so much out of Vietnam, you learned so much out of killing the native Indians. And you learned so much from the first term of Bush that you simply had to elect him one more time! I do have to admit you do learn from your mistakes. It took the great Roman Empire 300 years do fall. I would give America 20% of that... As I said we aren't do developed as you are... But with or without ethonal I can fell and see the Global Warming. I don't need a scientist to tell me that. When I was 10 there wasn't a winter without lots and lots of snow. For around 5 years now no more snow (none whatsoever). Its hotter and hotter in the summer, more and more floods in the spring, bigger and bigger storms in autumn. I'm sure global warming has nothing to do with that! And now that you brought that up I have to attack you great lifestyle once more... the vast majority of that stuff comes from russia and the middle east?!?! Yeah you have made a habit of getting it yourselves... And no necessary because your great industry needs it it's because the great american people drives huge cars that eat twice as much fuel as a european car (us undeveloped one) does. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Thinking about it better its normal you deny the existence of global warming since you could be somewhat responsible of it. maybe you don't like fast food, but the fact that 40% of the americans are fatter then normal paints a pretty different picture! Not directly, but it shows we are mentally weak. We have no longer time to eat properly because we are all running to get... "time is money" Isn't that what capitalists say? I don't know what you consider often, but we are 22.000.000 and as far as I now shooting in school never happened in Romania. Yes the undeveloped Romania. So you might reconsider the fact that twice a year is a rare.... And of course not the TV does not brainwash... They faked the elections on TV who could it brainwash people. Considering you elected Bush again I suggest you reconsider that too... I am not going to hold my comment on this one... You americans act as if there isn't anyone in the world beside you. What happened in Iraq is only the last drop... Nothing is forever... It shall come a time when you will have to answer for what you have done. No matter how soon or late that would be the trial of history will happen...

I'm not so sure that this decline is happening everywhere in the world... As my theory goes the decline of the West is largely due to the ongoing (read... too fast) technological discoveries which on one side help us with our daily lives but also makes us incredibly stupid. The TV and what is represents is the peak of this trend. The problem with this technological advance is that it is not something slow; a process taking a few generations; generations in which the population could adapt - it is rather a day to day improvement and that releases many problems from our brains. On the short term that is good, but on the long run it makes all of us extremely docile to what, for example, is being said on TV. In other words it makes all of us a bunch of sheeps one dummer then the other. That can't be good...This improvements never take place is less developed countries, or if it does it is much much more slower. So basically that keeps their intelectual potential...Yeah you may call this decline a global one but it is far more accelerated in the West then in the East. I agree with what you say ... it will finally become a fight where everyone fights for himself. Maybe the end of human civilization is somewhat needed... After every great extinction or collapse came a period of prosperity. After the dinosaurs gone extinct came humans (the cave man wouldn't have stood a chance against a T-Rex no matter how smart he were). It may be natural that we eventually die out and let evolution make a new leap foreword just like with the dinosaurs. After all nothing is forever. The propose of life may simply be to end... Your also right with the DNA part... But I'm sure we can't fix that... Its within our fibers. If we wouldn't feel greed or envy we wouldn't need laws, we would have a great society. But I think greed or envy is somewhat a part of the animal we inherit so unfortunately there is no way we will loose them.

How could they possibly loose 25 million child benefit records?!? I mean it's something pretty basic to not have all data on the same computer and of course have daily backups? Now reading the article one more time and paying more attention I really don't understand if the records in question were lost (like destroyed, no where to be found) or stolen (someone got a copy of them). It's even worse if someone stole them because it means he has something to gain for selling them. I wonder what would their use be? On a side-note... don't consider your prime-minister so important... It's not like he has been prime-minister for long and it's not like he decided to go to a war which is actually not his like the former prime-minister did (the one that everybody knows!)

I was having an argument with a friend of mine a few days ago on the fact that all the Western civilizations are on a slow, but steady decline. Not necessary economical decline, but a far more important and with far greater consequences cultural and moral decay which in time will inevitable lead to the downfall of the Western hegemony.I strongly believe in this theory. I consider its outcome not a question of if, but a question of when. You may call me a pessimist, you may think I see only the part of the glass that is empty, but we all see the signs. I believe the Western civilizations are at or have passed the peak of their development. Remember that after the shining Roman Empire came the Dark Ages... History is known to repeat itself.The signs are, in my opinion, easy to see. Global warming and the end of the fossil fuels will destroy the financial foundations of the West. The economies based on a great industry will be the first to go down. The increasingly bigger disasters caused by global warming won't help either.But far more important is the moral decay of the West. Everyday I see on the news children shooting their deskmates, teachers or parents. We are all part of the "eat crap, get fat" cult (myself a McDonald's & KFC junky, although not fat at all) and more and more the giant multinational corporations control every part of our life, with the New World Order becoming an ever greater threat. The capitalistic world promotes all the wrong virtues it's masterpiece being the great money chase. The fast development of this world makes us loose our identities. The psychologists say that someone that does not remember it's "roots" is easily manipulated. And that is what TV does best...Todays world no longer has the values it was built on. That is why it's decline is predictable and ultimately inevitable. It's just like a train going too fast... it will inevitably derail.This is my grim view of the times to come. How do you see the future of the world?

I'm sure that most of the things that happened during the time of the Roman Empire still happen today, but most of them never get on TV or in the newspaper or on the Internet. Besides there has been time to unveil most of the secrets. Who knows? Maybe in a thousand years some scientist will discover that 9-11 has been done with the full cooperation of the US government. Besides you can hardly compare Julius Caesar to Hitler since the second was a genius (at least in the first part of his political career) but an evil one and the first could be named a military genius. Julius Caesar is the builder of the Roman Empire but the one that has taken it to new heights was Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. Augustus (as he was known) is known for the policies he implemented which lead to a period of great prosperity (most think it was the greatest) known as Pax Romana or Pax Augusta. As I have said many think that after this 40 year period (which essentially had small wars) of peace the Empire started to slowly but surely decline. This 40 year period could be called the peak of the Roman Empire, after which everything started going wrong. What Julius Caesar didn't realize is that by naming itself dictator and completely disregarding the institution of the senate he sealed his fate. As history shows Augustus hasn't made the same mistake, he kept the senate even if only as a facade. Many centuries later the same "traditions" are kept. Many dictatorial regimes call themselves democratic and even organize elections. I guess Julius Caesar didn't understand the importance of legitimizing his rule... But I don't think that if he had lived the assassination history would have taken a much different turn. I have a theory and I would like to hear you opinion on it. I think that the fall of an empire is directly proportional to the time it took to be built. Do you think that is right?

I don't think clones can get the memories of the original person any time soon. Memories can't be simply cloned like the DNA can. Memories are far more (if not impossible) to duplicate. I'm sure it requires super advanced brain knowledge something mankind will not discover for at least another century or so (presuming of course we will survive that long). And if we are to live to discover the secrets of the brain that means we must be morally clean.It's not hard to clone a person (and I'm sure it has been done... not officially of course!) and even if it has some problems they will be tweaked over time. Cloning memories... that is a very big if. Considering that cloning a person raises huge moral and ethical questions, cloning one persons memories is even larger then that. It is after all a way to achieve total immortally, but that means cheating death (in the short run) and evolution on the long run (the only true source of biological progress). Why are the moral problems so important? Because it is what makes us humans, just as death does. It's hard for many to admit, but death is the only thing that motivates our existence. If it weren't for death there would be no biological and technological progress. An immortal society doesn't have any dreams or hopes and does not fear the end. Death is after all the only thing that makes us all equal. Bill Gates will eventually just as people from Africa die everyday of hunger or war. Guess looking from that perspective death is somewhat a blessing... But that's another discusssion.Living forever would certainly be extremely boring over time. And if I think better I'm sure mother nature has designed some safety feature in our DNA that doesn't allow continues cloning. Everything in the universe dies sooner or later, there is no way we can outlive the universe itself.A society like that in The Island can't (does not deserve) to live. Once they have crossed that thin line of morality there is no turning back. Just like with nuclear power. I am sure there must be some sort of universal equation that makes sure that only the species that deserve to live get to enjoy life. Greedy as we are humans are destroying their planet and themselves. Greedy as we are, we do not deserve to live! We shall die or we shall have to change. Cloning will be the same thing. A line that once passed with take us to our doom.