Yratorm, LightMage

A fascinating post, truefusion, really. Very, VERY well put, I think.I am not religious in any sense of the word, yet your post symbolizes all that I believe a religion SHOULD BE. I believe that such a 'personal relationship with the maker' does more good to the believer than anything.I have studied a great many religions under a great many teachers all over the world when I was younger, and I think an unselfish relationship with the god-head is the finest form of belief. Emphasis on the unselfish As I said, I'm not religious. I stand on the outside, but I'm an interested observer, nonetheless.I'm not for or against the existence of a god. It's just that religion is not my way, personally. My way is just to do the most good to the people and the world around me in the shortest time possible that I can. And I'm not just talking about helping people here, but about helping any creature that needs help, whether it's a tree blown down in a storm that needs to be pushed up, and propped up so it will never fall again, or a little bird that's been wounded by a cat - anything that needs help. I don't need to go to heaven, and I don't seek enlightenment. I don't look that far at all. I guess I'm a very simple man.

Very informative, Albus. This is a very good test - I'd just like to add some relevant information. It's important to remember that SOME stroke victims can actually pass that test. Sometimes the symptoms of a stroke can be as slight as a slight numbness of the face, or weakness in an arm or leg, especially on one side of the body - the victim will be able to smile, raise their arms, talk coherently, etc. but STILL be suffering a stroke. While this is a VERY GOOD TEST for identifying a stroke quickly in the majority of cases, if you notice anything that even slightly signifies a lack of control over your motor functions (such as a slight numbness) you should see a doctor at once. This is because speed is of the essence where treating a stroke is concerned. Immediate treatment can PREVENT damage - a delay leads to permanent damage. See a doctor at once if you have any of these symptoms: 1) Sudden difficulty seeing in one or both eyes 2) Sudden loss of feeling, numbness or weakness (especially on one side of the face or body) (or an arm or leg) 3) Sudden trouble walking, loss of co-ordination, loss of balance, stumbling with no apparent reason. 4) A severe headache, dizziness. 5) Mental confusion - trouble understanding things, or trouble speaking. If you can pass the test successfully but still have ANY of the above symptoms, you MUST see your doctor at once. Stroke damage can be PREVENTED by treating the stroke AT ONCE. A delay leads to permanent damage, and can even be fatal.

Hmm, I've studied some of these things with gurus in the east, and find it hard to reconcile their teachings with science as we know it. I've gained a lot from learning with them, yet science as we know it offers so many answers to so many things. How does one reconcile the two, really? Mysticism seems to imply that science is flawed, while science seems to imply that mysticism is nonsense Any thoughts, anyone?I've had two experiences that could be called out-of-body experiences and/or astral projection, but the man of science in me keeps telling me I was imagining things, hehehe.I don't mind talking about them, though, if anyone is interested? And I certainly wouldn't mind hearing about some of your experiences as well, if any.clergyq's posts were rather fascinating

Hmmm - I usually feel 'down' if I don't get enough sleep. Like the other day I spent the whole night preparing some lessons for some students of mine, and the next day I felt so 'listless' and rather depressed. I tend to use sleep and exercise to deal with feeling low or depressed. When I catch myself thinking the wrong kinds of thoughts, I get a hold of myself and ask - are you really depressed, or are you just tired? And then I look back and usually find that I haven't had enough sleep, so I just put everything to one side and sleep. (I might mention that I live a rather 'uncivilized' lifestyle in the east that's not as 'time-based' as life in the west, and so have considerable freedom with my schedule). When I wake up, I engage in a tough workout, usually either martial-arts, or weights or 'ability-training' which basically are different exercises we do in Ninjutsu to train different abilities - our balance, our ability to make leaps, our control in mid-air, the ability to throw objects accurately. Anyway, the activity is unimportant - what's important is that all of it is strenuous and gets my heart rate up. Sometimes I go rock-climbing or for a hike in the mountains. After one of these 'exercise sessions' I feel tired, but in a nice sort of way, and I don't feel depressed or low anymore. Just my way of dealing with feeling down - not saying it's a 'cure-all' for depression or anything of the sort.

Hmm, around five to six years ago homosexuality was pretty common among the middle income groups in india (well, from what I read in some articles in the papers - no offense to anyone, I'm just repeating the results of studies conducted in india - they could well be wrong).The studies stated that for many indian men the first sexual experience was either with another man or with a sex-worker, and that many men at the time resisted the use of condoms.Times have changed since then, with more indian women experimenting with sex and the use of condoms almost universal among the middle income groups.However, the poorest section of the population STILL visit sex-workers and use no protection, thus contracting the disease. The tragic part is that they then go home and engage in unprotected sex with their wives, transferring the disease to them, and perhaps to their children. Often they are completely unaware that they even have the disease.There are many organizations desperately trying to combat this, but the sheer size of india's low-income population affects the success of their efforts.Education and awareness are the key-notes to combating such an epidemic, but to reach out to india's millions is no easy task, nor is it cheap. And india is a poor country, unable to bear the expenses of an extensive program. Worse, richer countries sending in funds is not necessarily an answer, as corruption is rampant in the east, and the chances of those funds actually accomplishing their objective are low - it's far more likely that the money will find it's way into private accounts.The best thing I can think of that has any chance of success is for interested groups in the west to link up with groups fighting the disease in india, and if they do send funds over to help pay for educational and awareness programs, that they also send representatives over with those funds to help oversee spending of the money, so that it doesn't find it's way into private accounts.Also, there ARE many honest folk in the east, but one has to locate them and put THEM in charge of things, or one risks just making some selfish man rich, rather than accomplishing anything worthwhile.

Hmm, I find both this post by watermonkey and the original article fascinating. It all comes down to the difference between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. The letter of the law might say a person is a criminal, but if that person has acted in the best interests of everyone, then that should be respected, or the law itself loses credibility and 'moral force' if you know what I mean. And I agree with watermonkey "people are victimized by nonsensical laws like this creating a whole new class of "criminals" in this country" - victimized being the exact word to use. It all depends on EXACTLY what the boy did - did he go STRAIGHT to the assistant principle? In which case, he was morally in the right, and the school authorities are CERTAINLY victimizing him. However, if he walked around with the gun for some time, then he's certainly damaged his case, as school authorities might feel that he intended to KEEP the gun, and then later had second thoughts and turned it in. I'm NOT saying this is what he did/intended/etc. but it's possible this is the opinion of his actions held by the school authorities. Alternatively, school shootings have probably so scared authorities that they are acting out of simple panic, targeting anyone even slightly in the 'wrong' because they are so afraid of an incident happening at their school. Human nature at work, as usual Why is a victim of human nature so often innocent? ---------------------------------------------- A note to watermonkey: If this is the way things have become in the west, I agree that it's a serious limitation on simple human freedoms. I hate the thought of people not being given the leeway to think and act for themselves. I must say that if this is really the way things are in the west, then I really prefer the east, watermonkey - here the law generally doesn't bother with you until and unless you go out of your way to bother someone else. I think it's a good system. Keep to yourself, go about your business, and you won't find anyone arresting you over a 'rule from the book' so to speak. They come down on you like a hammer if you're actually committing (or have committed) an actual crime, and that's how I think it should be. Not saying it's a perfect system, but it's one that I personally prefer.

Hmm, to an extent watermonkey has a point, though his ways of expressing his points leave much to desired. Gee, wow. You have a nice attitude to the other members of this forum who have posted on this topic, watermonkey. As a matter of fact, I think several posters here have put forward points that are both reasonably educated and relevant. --------------------------------- Anyway, to step past the insults and consider what he's REALLY said, he definitely has a point. For example, a little past the middle of the last century scientists were actually predicting a new ice age!! - and of course, resulting global disaster, hehe. So scientists are only human can can definitely be wrong. Now, that said, if we ignore the 'global warming' issue for a moment, I think that polluting the planet and destroying the environmental heritage of the future are hardly nice things to do to our own descendants. I take the view that we hold the planet 'in trust' for the future, and thus we have a duty to preserve it as much as we can. As for global warming, I consider that the sun alone is not the only cause of global warming on the planet - humans are certainly contributing their fair share. Sure, the planet warms and cools periodically with fluctuations in the atmosphere of the home star, but humans aren't exactly irrelevant on this world by now - they cover a good deal of the planet and put out millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. And a 'greenhouse effect' can definitely contribute to global warming - you just have to look at venus to see that that's quite true. Measures to counter our contribution to the problems that face the planet can only be applauded. And non-cooperation from the U.S. in these matters can be considered shortsighted and selfish from one point of view, certainly. I agree that there can be other points of view, watermonkey (such as yours) - and indeed, you've raised some very valid points. But so have other posters on this topic. Their points of view are neither 'uneducated' nor irrelevant.

Dear me, Watermonkey, in your last post, you've just talked a lot. What was that again about people who do that having nothing to say? I stand by my views in my post, and maintain that I had a valid point. And I maintain that you ignored that point entirely. And (unlike some of us) I say it politely. Politeness costs us nothing - I notice that some of the members of this forum who have the most posts (and I'm NOT talking of myself, rather of people with 600 posts and more) are the most polite. Rudeness borders on egotism. Just a gentle hint. Remember,

Hmm, just my personal take on the subject.Religions exist (remember, this is JUST my personal opinion, nothing more) for two reasons:1) They offer hope and solace on a personal level to people, AS WELL AS the support of a community when disaster strikes the individual (such as a death or illness in a family, for instance), and..2) They allow (in some religions, in past or in the present) a certain section of the population (the priests, or the equivalent) considerable power.Now, what is GOOD in religions is contained in the first point, and what is BAD in them is contained in the second. God may or may not exist, but the truth is that religions make the ups and downs of human existence easier to take for many people. And that's not really a bad thing.The second point, however, works against religion. Who was it who said 'Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely?' - well, it's true, power does have a corrupting influence.I think that the best thing for the world would be to have religions that exist on a more 'personal' plane - a direct human-to-god relationship (I think many humans today still need this in their lives), but WITHOUT the existence of powerful priesthoods, who have generally spelled trouble whenever they existed throughout history.

Fascinating subject :DMy take on 'who created god' might surprise a few I think the ones who created god - were human :DWell, it's just my private opinion, I understand that this is a controversial issue, so I put this forward as my personal view ONLY, and nothing more.I think humans created god/gods to explain those aspect of the universe that they did not (or do not) understand.For example, when there was an eclipse, the sun would look like a great bird of fire in the heavens, and this gave rise to one of the oldest 'gods' the phoenix, that symbol of death and re-birth.Then we had the greek gods who controlled the various aspects of nature.And now today we have a god who controls those aspects of human life and the cosmos that we cannot control ourselves :)Perhaps when human knowledge is vast enough to encompass almost everything, humans will banish their gods.Well, a controversial point of view, I know. Feel free to disagree completely, I surely can be completely wrong here, it's mostly conjecture on my part

Hmm, zak92, I've been reading your posts in 'the rant' and I think I understand your problems a little better now, and you have my definite sympathies. Me_boxer_dude, it seems this guy (who's of indian origin) has, in short, been exiled to the desert for not keeping within his parent's 'norms of behavior' back in canada. Hmm, having traveled around asia I can understand that indian parents can be VERY repressive. I wish I could help you, really I do. I have several friends and acquaintances in india who have the same problems, so I understand EXACTLYT what you're going through. I'm sorry I got on my 'high horse' earlier in this thread, zak92, really I am, but I didn't realize you were indian, you see - I thought you were canadian. Now that I know you're of indian origin all your problems suddenly make sense. What most kids in india (many of whom are in your position, believe me) try to do is to become independent and 'get out' as quickly as possible. Hmm, I would REALLY like to help you, your position is unenviable - it reminds me of those pakistani parents in the UK who would trick their daughters into traveling to pakistan and then force them into marriages with someone they'd never even met before. If nothing else, I'd just like you to know that I DO understand your problems, and you have my sympathies. Feel free to talk about anything you'd like help with here here - I find people on this forum really understanding and helpful.

Vbritton, I have not been tracking your topic - I have little interest in it, it just happens to be in the health and fitness section, in which I DO have a definite interest. My reason to be here is to help people, and I admit don't particularly like this topic of yours because (in JUST my personal opinion) it has been put up more to propagate your particular brand of belief than to truly help anyone. This is JUST my personal opinion, and I agree that it may be wrong.I have deleted any of my posts in this thread that were in any way impolite to you. Whatever logical points I had to make were made in my earliest posts.All I can say is the best diet for the human body is a balanced diet - one with meat, vegetables, fruits, etc. The human body sometimes extracts a minute amount of necessary material from one aspect of the diet - to restrict one's diet is to restrict one's health.If anything I said earlier disturbed you, vbritton, I tender my sincere apologies. I am not here to fight with anyone, but only to help people to the best of my abilities, in any way I can.

Hmm, I would really have to agree. Very well put, me_boxer_dude (as usual, ). Hehe, I like the way you drop in on these discussion with words of wisdom, so to speak. Very well put, really.

This post has been edited by Yratorm to remove those parts that were impolite to vbritton, for which there was no real necessity. Those who are interested in my personal thoughts on this issue, please consult my earlier posts. I was impolite here because vbritton casually discounted the knowledge gained in a lifetime of study. However, logically speaking, I agree that that she has the right to whatever opinions she may hold.

Yes, Hagar, I'm an admirer of Lincoln, and I've read a great deal about him, and about most of the founding fathers as well.The way I see it, America is a great nation. And a nation like that needs a great man or woman to lead it, a person with a mind and heart and soul as big as the country itself.You can put any tribal leader in charge of some out-of-the way african country, and he'll rule more or less badly, and it won't matter (except to the poor people under him, of course).But America is different. It's not some out of the way nation, it's America. And every president who stands at the head of it stands in the shoes of men like Lincoln, and that's a great honor, but it's also a VERY great responsibility - a responsibility to be at least half the man he was - or to at least TRY.

Well now, this is a topic I generally steer clear off, basically because emotions run high, and when emotions run high, logic and simple common sense generally go right out of the window. However, because this forum is a wonderful place and I really like the people here, I will break my rule this once and make a statement.. ------------------------------------ The U.S. attack on Afghanistan could be called an act of self defense. In a sense, it had a purity of purpose - simple revenge You hit us, we hit you. Well, sometimes people need that to understand that they should 'lay off'. Now I'm not a U.S. citizen and I've spent years in pakistan, afghanistan and iraq (and no, I'm not a citizen of those countries either) - however, I'm pretty good at understanding the middle east, as you can imagine. The U. S. attack on afghanistan was pretty much justified to my mind - and better still (from the point of view of U.S. interests), it was breaking the WILL of the jehadis - it was affecting their FAITH IN ALLAH - how do I know this? I was IN afghanistan at the time. The U.S. doesn't realize how close, HOW VERY CLOSE it was to total VICTORY over the jehad movement. People were turning away from the mullahs, or rather the maulanas as they are really called - U.S. victory in afghanistan was that effective. Okay, up to now, everything's working fine - it's all guns and roses, right? Now Bush has to screw all this up. ------------------------------------ NOW Bush makes his fatal mistake. He gets greedy. Now some americans may bull-s**t themselves or BE bulls**tted into believing that Bushy was after WMD's or chemical weapons, but most of the world knows d**n well what Bushy wanted - he wanted to control Iraq's oil reserves, plain and simple. Now I'll tell you one thing, if Bush had REALLY gone in with his motives pure, to rid Iraq of a dictator, things would have turned out differently. People sense honesty, they are more intelligent than Bush thinks. But his motives were not honest - they can be summed up in two words - greed and power. Heck, if he'd managed to pull it off and been able to grab Iraq's oil for America he'd have become a little tin god back home. And to that I have only one answer. It's an old saying, and perhaps someone should have said it to Bush when he was younger. And the saying is, 'You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.' It's a little bit of wisdom, that (if Bush only realized it) could have saved both him and America a great deal of trouble. ------------------------------------ I am a dispassionate spectator. I don't care one bit if an american is republican or democrat or what views each holds. I was trained as an assassin by a Ninja Ryu in the east, and the first thing we learned in the Ryu is to NOT be passionate where politics are concerned - it DISTORTS one's logic and judgement. Politicians and presidents come and go, and most of them are dirty liars. So is Bush. The first time I saw him in a picture on a newspaper, just after he was elected, my thoughts were 'god help america.' We learn to study faces and character in the Ryu, you see. Bush is not just a liar - he's a bungling incompetent as well, and the sooner America sees the last of him, the sooner it can move into a brighter and better future. You don't need a Bush for a president - you need an Abe Lincoln. Now THERE was a president. No offense to anyone. Anyone who finds any part of this post offensive - feel free to, I don't really care. I'm a dispassionate observer. I don't care one bit what america does. My best advice to all americans, is, when you elect a president, think of Lincoln, and match characters - if the character doesn't come close to matching any of the candidates, don't vote, any of you - start a MASS MOVEMENT and DEMAND that better CANDIDATES be brought forward instead. ------------------------------------ And I'll tell you one thing - america is a BIG country, with a LOT of wonderful people in it - SOMEWHERE among those people is a man who is good, and great, and intelligent and ethical and honorable - a man who would make a GREAT president. Or perhaps it's a woman. YOUR DUTY, as AMERICANS, is not to simply vote blindly for whoever is put before you, but to FIND that great man or woman, the GREAT, good, kind, honest president that America NEEDS, and THEN put HIM or HER in the Oval Office. And THEN I think America will continue to be the wonderful land of freedom and hope that her founding fathers intended her to be. Right now, and I say this DISPASSIONATELY, America is starting to lose her wonderful soul to petty politicians, to liars, charlatans and frauds. ------------------------------------ Take care all, and remember, all humans, Iraqi, Afghan, Russian, American - are all HUMAN first, and therefore our brothers and sisters. Deaths are not divided into 'ours' and 'theirs', for we are all FAMILY.

Right, now that I know the question my own personal thoughts on light-sabers: Firstly, I think you are mistaken if you think anyone has made light-sabres on this planet. You must be thinking of some other planet that you encountered in your travels. Hmmm, I believe hearing about something like that being done on the planet Vrexus Theta in the Andromeda Galaxy - but don't believe it, it's just hearsay Right, right, kiddin. Now, to answer your question. I believe that our understanding of the universe and the way it works is more limited than we think. This is because, to an extent, our science is an extension of the human brain, and the human brain originally developed on the 'survival of the fittest' principle and not on the 'survival of the being best able to understand the true way the universe works' principle. My point? There might be 'blind spots' in our science that we cannot recognize, because at the moment our brains simply refuse to see them, because these areas are too alien to our brain's functional parameters. Now, by today's science, I would say that making a saber that functions EXACTLY as the Jedi sabers function (as shown in the movies) would be well nigh impossible. However, it may indeed be possible in some future (and there may be limitless possible futures) to manipulate light in fields so that it acts as a solid object, and cuts through material, etc. I can't see how it would be done, but I won't say it's ultimately impossible. Just as faster than light travel just may be possible. In admitting the possibility of these things I merely admit the relative ignorance of humanity as compared with humans say four billion years hence, to whom a faster than light craft might be something so primitive as to be completely irrelevant. A clue - if the universe is NOT quite how our brains (and the science resulting from our brains) sees it, then it is also possible that we have quite a few basics about it wrong. So the Way to make your saber might be staring us right in the face, but until we can see that Way, we cannot make it. My advice? Wait a little while - not long, a billion years or two should certainly see us able to make light sabers. But by that time, we'll also probably realize just how futile it is to make them - or any other weapon of war, for that matter. ------------------- Now, something to interest the original writer of this document. If you would like to try out something rather Jedi-like, did you know that it's not particularly hard to deflect thrown ninja stars with a katana? To try this out, use a stick in place of a sword, and have a friend throw several square pieces of rubber at you - after a while you'll be fast enough to deflect or evade every one of them with your 'sword'. That may not be as good as having a light-saber, but it should be fun and even quite interesting. Take care, all.

Indeed Kubi - growing up in the east, my first books were bought from people who processed paper of various kinds - I would grab the books just before they were all sent out for recycling, and get them at prices the equivalent of one cent or less. Then I introduced most of my friends on the street to reading - quite an achievement, I can tell you. By the way, all these books we used to buy originated in the west - how on earth they get half way round the world in such numbers AND then end up waiting to be recycled is beyond me.Of course we went to school too, but I was always eager to learn much more, and these books cost us next to nothing - now, when I travel the main problem is how to move my crates of books, hehehhehehe. I usually spend at least six months in a new country that I visit, so I HAVE to take my books.Like once I arrived in Burma (now Myanmar) when I was a few years younger, with canvas sacks full of books, and was arrested on the spot by customs officials who thought that the books were boxes of contraband (they looked pretty much like boxes from the outside of the sacks) - and they were SO angry that someone should try to smuggle so blatantly, hehehehehehehhehehe - most smugglers at least have the decency to hide the contraband, this guy just arrives with sacks full - anyway, when they looked in the sacks and found only hundreds of books, they had to let me go (you could see the thought in their heads - not a smuggler, just a simple madman, ROFL)

Hmm, I'm surprised at the amount of interest this topic is getting, considering the title (no offense). If it had been titled 'Is vegetarianism a healthier lifestyle', yes there would be merit in it. But I think that the words (and implied concept) 'Are vegetarians smarter' are misguided at best, and the opposite of intelligent at worst. Lets break down the results of eating meat into the physical and mental aspects, shall we.. First, let us discuss the physical: I eat meat, cow meat, and I am exceedingly strong, exceedingly quick on my feet, with very good reflexes and a training in the martial arts that makes me a rather lethal opponent. I don't say this lightly - I've traveled all over asia and africa, and have been in many encounters where my life has been at threat. And I have survived, and those who took me lightly have regretted their misguided notions. Now that's only speaking of the physical. Yet the physical counts. Physically I'm more like a leopard than a cow, certainly not someone anyone would like to meet in a dark alley at night. My point? Despite what has been said about vegetarians being healthier, I am a person in peak condition and I subsist on a non-vegetarian diet. My teachers, who also eat meat, and who are near 70, look 20 or 30 years younger, and have none of the afflictions that affect most people. This said, it seems to me that good health depends more on how much of your time you devote to MAINTAINING that health, than upon what you eat. Both my teachers and I spend 3 hours a day on training alone, this not counting the things I do for fun like rock climbing, kayaking, long hikes in the mountains, etc. ----------------------------- Now let us discuss intelligence. I consider a lot of the carnivorous folk who've posted on this thread (like Saint Micheal, for instance) to be very smart people, not to mention that I'm hardly unintelligent myself. Again, (and I'm repeating myself here) I live in largely vegetarian india, and having traveled the world I find people in india no smarter and no less smart than anyone else. Speaking personally, I have a thirst for knowledge - I read a LOT, and have a memory that can absorb almost everything I read so that I can remember the salient points years later. Also I devote a LOT OF TIME to the pursuit of knowledge, with interests ranging from astronomy to quantum physics, to history, philosophy and even the simple study of human nature. That said, intelligence seems to depend on four things - 1) Genetics 2) The Desire to Learn 3) The Opportunity for Learning (such as the availability of books, and various other sources of knowledge) 4) An lastly, but most importantly, the amount of time and effort one gives to learning. You see, the mind NEEDS exercise as well - you start out with a certain potential for intelligence, but you will never realize your ultimate potential until you push your mind to the limit and beyond. And I think that the WILL to do this, and the OPPORTUNITY to do this, matter a GREAT DEAL more than diet, really. And that's the last that I have to say on this subject. I think the researchers who conducted that study were wasting time AND money that could be put to better use elsewhere. And I consider that MOST unintelligent, indeed. Just one man's opinions - I might indeed be completely mistaken, being only human hehehehehe (unlike Saint Micheal, who as we all know, is an archangel!! - down, down on your knees before him, all of you, and I mean RIGHT NOW!!!) Right, just kidding, Mike. Take care, all.

ROFL - evil, evil, squinty eyes - I MUST have that creature for a minion!!!! Hehehe. Look at that hair, looks kind of like fumes of evil wafting of him Hehe, great stuff, man.---------------------------What's his special power? If someone eats him he cuts up their guts on the inside? Hahahaha ROFL

Hmm, I REALLY don't think the body cares where it's getting it's nutrition from. I think a vegan diet is fine for occupations where the body is not under severe physical stress - however, the tissue repair resulting from extreme stress on the muscles requires a complex set of substances that are not present in their entirety in most vegetable foods. An exception to this is soyabean, and one or two other foods. However, all meats contain the materials for tissue repair - so you see, it really is a most convenient source for people in high-muscle-stress professions. You CAN get the same results from a vegan diet, but you would have to 'mix and match' the various constituents of your vegan meal so that ALL the necessary constituents required for tissue-repair were present in it TOGETHER, in a single meal. Not easy unless you're a nutritionist. Well, I have a heavy-muscle-stress lifestyle, you could say, and meat is certainly a very useful way to reduce my pain - that's what it is, really. When you stress your body to extremes, you are in REAL muscular pain until your body's demands for repair materials is satisfied. And believe me, your body doesn't care where those materials come from. The pain ceases when it's demands are satisfied, and they are satisfied most easily by meat, second most easily by soyabean. I speak from extensive experience. As for intelligence and it's relation to vegetarianism - I've already spoken on the subject, there's no point in repetition there.

Hmmm, talk about vaguest of vague questions. As I don't really understand the question, I will provide several answers. Choose what fits. Well a laser is not a light emission as you understand it. I'm assuming you're talking of flashing two powerful light beams at each other. What will happen in the 'center' is certainly not a laser or the formation of chemicals (again, for the purity of the experiment we will assume that all this takes place in a vacuum, where there are no 'raw' materials). What happens when two wave patterns meet can be quite interesting - for example if both beams are of equal intensity and you can get the two patterns to 'cancel' each other out exactly, then both beams will disappear. If you were talking about lasers operating in an environment that contains 'raw materials' then it is indeed possible to use an extremely powerful laser to trigger a fusion reaction - the machine that produces the laser would have to be about as large as a football field, perhaps more. Not certain, my science here is rusty. If you're talking about particle collisions, the collisions of certain types of particles result in sub-particles like quarks. As for individual photons - it would be extremely difficult to get two of them in the same place at the same time, really. Now tachyons, that's a different story - two tachyons are supposed to be able to occupy exactly the same place at exactly the same time, with the minimum of pushing and shoving, but then the tachyon particle is (for practical purposes) a fabulous, magical animal - we could just as well talk of Unicorns!! No, no, just kidding. ---------------------------------------- Now this may interest the original questioner - if you take two GALAXIES and fling them together, they will pass through each other with the minimum of ill-will. Strange, isn't it? Just try it for yourself, it really works

You don't HAVE to accept punishment or detention, you know. That's just an illusion. When I was in school I would only accept it if I knew I had done wrong. If I hadn't I would say, I'm sorry, but I can't accept punishment for this, it wouldn't be ethical. And don't think that my teachers were any less strict, they just came to realize that I was an extremely ethical being and not to be trifled with. And I was not afraid. What would they do to me? Kill me? Unlikely. Throw me out of school? Again, unlikely - I was pretty mature, and used to read a LOT and take part in every school activity - I was a good student. But I would just not obey an order if that order was wrong. And people respect that. You are born free - if you submit to wearing chains you shouldn't complain about it. Understand that you ARE free. If you submit to something you feel is wrong, you are CHOOSING to submit to that. You can choose NOT to submit, if you're truly in the right, it just takes a great deal of personal courage and moral force. But people DO respect that. I'm not saying be a rebel - I'm saying be a moral giant. As Abe Lincoln said - right MAKES might. Lastly, knowledge is a strange thing - as a matter of fact I'm a person who HAS NOT used what I learned in school much. After I finished with high school, I worked my way across the planet and studied the martial arts in depth in various schools of the east - but one thing I DID learn in school was the simple skill of reading, and it has been a source of joy, recreation and knowledge for the rest of my life. And I'm very grateful for that. School opens doors and windows into a limitless country called 'knowledge' - a country so vast and so wonderful that you can explore it forever and not tire of it.

Lucid dreaming is having total command of your dream-scape while in a state of deep sleep. I've been able to do it since I was a kid, but it is dangerous, in that once you have total control, you in effect have an alternate reality that you can escape into - the 'created' world suits you so perfectly (it would, since you created it) that you don't really want to leave. It can lead to sleep states that lasts for a day or several days - I wouldn't recommend that anyone truly master the technique, especially if your 'outside' life isn't so hot.A more scientific analysis of lucid dreaming: Ever wonder why your dreams appear so 'real' even though the most ridiculous things happen in them? Well, what happens is that in deep sleep your brain produces certain inhibitors - substances that disable certain 'logic centers' within the brain, thus PREVENTING you from properly analyzing the 'dream-world. Some theories about lucid-dreaming state that in the case of people who master lucid dreaming, their brains either do NOT produce these inhibitors in sufficient amounts in the first place, or if they do, these people learn to train their brains NOT to produce them.Since I've always been capable of lucid dreaming, I assume that my brain falls into the 'lacking' category, hehehehe.I see no advantage or disadvantage to lucid dreaming. If anything there is a disadvantage, as I said, a world that you can create yourself is so perfect you never want to leave..

You know the 'arrow of time' is linked to the third law of thermodynamics, which is, in one word, entropy. That is, things have a tendency to revert to chaos. Or, it takes more energy to make a thing than to break it. Sorry for the technicalities - bear with me. Now, our experience of the arrow of time is from 'past to future' BUT the reality of time need not be what it seems to be to human senses. Human senses have evolved NOT to perceive the true reality of the universe, but have evolved based on SURVIVAL of the fittest. So that what we 'perceive' to be true might not be reality at all. Consider that what seem to be 'solid objects' to our senses are actually largely empty space. That said, it just may be that time isn't the journey from past to future that human consciousness makes it appear to be - perhaps it's more like a field of endless possibilities, where all probabilities are possible! And that said, just perhaps, what we call 'deja vu' is not even remembering the past or future, but instead perceiving an event from another possible past or future, a perception of a random event plucked by random probability from the sheet of time.