FolkRockFan

I don't see how your teacher is "Satan's Lovechild" as you claim.1. Her weight has nothing to do with her ability to teach. Picking on someone because she's larger than the average person isn't cool. If you have a legitimate problem with something that your teacher can change (i.e. the way that she treats students), then that's fine. But physical makeup should not even be brought up.2. You didn't really list anything that qualifies as "mean." She makes you take tests. She grades fairly, even though it means that everyone flunks the test. Unless she's doing something that goes against a - the law or b - school policy, she's just doing her job. She's not there to be liked. She's there to help you learn things. You might never actually need a lot of the math that you learn, but you have to learn it anyway. 3. You might be miserable when the teacher assigns homework, but remember that SHE has to grade ALL of it at some point. Let's just say that a teacher has five periods a day with twenty students in each class (a low estimate, sure, but go with it for a minute). This means that, every time she assigns you homework, she has to spend her time - OUT OF CLASS time at that - grading 100 assignments. If she assigns 100 students 20 math problems, then...yeah. That's a lot of grading to do. If she just wanted to make you miserable, she would torture you during her IN CLASS TIME instead of including herself in the torture by assigning homework that she has to grade on weekends and evenings.4. Getting detention for talking is an expected and reasonable consequence. If you don't want to spend your time in detention, be quiet during assemblies. By the time we're old enough to have algebra classes, we should know that it's rude to talk when other people are trying to talk.

The Texas Rangers (baseball team) did basically the same thing. A few seasons ago, they brought in Alex Rodriguez. Everyone knows who that guy is. They paid him a record breaking quarter-billion-dollar salary (over the length of his contract - not per season). The idea is to bring in the superhero, superstar athlete in that sport and wait for half of the country to suddenly follow that guy's team with great interest. It'll work, too. Even though many Americans (including yours truly) don't follow soccer at all, we know who Beckham is. Heck, how can we not? He was all over our news networks and papers long before this deal was in the works. Bring that guy in and the flow of cash will drown the entire league. Beckham's new team will make money faster than they can spend it. When his team is on the road, people will buy tickets to see him play. The home team (the guys playing against Beckham's team) will make the money off of those sales. The home team will also gain followers because people will feel the need to support their local soccer club once they actually see the team play. Then other teams, jealous of the fact that Beckham's team has *the* superstar, will demand a huge increase in the salary cap so that they can recruit their own mega-star athletes. And they'll have plenty of cash to do it because soccer will be a LOT more popular in the near future, what with Beckham being here and all. So...it'll all work out for a lot of people - not just Beckham and his new team. This is just a foot in the door, so to speak. Pro sports are all about money. The owners, managers, union reps, etc. all know how to make money.

Maybe your cousin needs a break from playing. Maybe he's accomplished everything that he wants to accomplish with his guitar(s). Maybe he'll pick it up again; maybe he won't. Whatever the case: he's already motivated and inspired you to learn the guitar. Nothing can change that because it's in the past. It's already been done. You already know how to play and you're already at whatever skill level you're at. Even if your cousin never so much as glances at a guitar again, you'll still have that.Music is one of the most important things in my life. I love playing and listening to all sorts of stuff. But I don't idolize any one musician. I'm motivated because music makes ME feel [whatever]. That, I think, is why I keep playing even though Kurt Cobain is dead, Ani DiFranco's last few records have been average at best and Phil Collins's solo act reeks to heaven and back.In other words: no matter what happens to the musicians who have inspired me over the years...I still listen and I still play. It has to come from inside yourself, dude, or it'll be knocked around and battered every time something outside of you changes.

I have a right to my privacy. Just because the claim is that this body scan is "voluntary" does not mean that it will ALWAYS be voluntary. They're making sure that the sheep continue running through the checkpoints even with this outrageous invasion of privacy in place. Once they figure out that people LIKE this "safe" feeling that they get from the body scanning, the TSA/airline industry will make the scans mandatory.And guess what happens then?Nobody gets to protest because, oops, so many people let it happen at the current stage.If anybody doesn't value his or her privacy and right to not be treated like a criminal, then by all means walk through the scanner. But please do one thing: the next time you go to the airport, take a copy of George Orwell's "1984" with you. You'll have PLENTY of time to read it while you're waiting.

The first computer that *I* owned (as in - wasn't Mom's) was an IBM 386. The thing ran Win 3.x, but I miraculously pulled off an upgrade to Win 95 (boy, did that computer protest). I don't remember most of the specs at this point, but they were far from impressive by today's standards. Even the keyboard was weird. I don't know if some of you remember IBM's earlier keyboards, but the thing had this massive, coiled cord. The keys were anything BUT quiet to the touch. Said keys also had caps over them with the letters/numbers/symbols painted on. I popped them all off (since I touch type) and the keyboard was a lot more comfortable for me to use. Not having marked keys drove everyone else nuts, though. Anybody who couldn't touch type just gave up.

Vista's been out for, what, a couple of weeks now? Of COURSE it's going to be littered with bugs. I believe that Vista will be a stable, decent OS in about a year. Until then, though, I'm avoiding the stupid thing the way that I avoided XP during the first year of its release. Micro$oft has always been too in love with releasing software before the major bugs are resolved.

Just go to Yahoo! News. The first few headlines will give you all of the hot, controversial topics that you need. Or turn on CNN. If you can stay awake through their endless Anna Nicole Smith "news," you've got it made

I've never been in your situation, so I have no real advice for you. I just wanted to say, though, that it sounds like you really care about your friend. Good for you. I hope and pray that you keep caring and that your friend makes it through everything that's going on right now.

Not everyone should go to public school. Not everyone should go to private school. Not everyone should be homeschooled. There are different types of education because there are different types of students. And as far as this "everyone should go to public school" thing: does that include college/university education? Should people not be allowed to attend the Ivy league schools? Nah. That would suck. People have the right to choose where they go to school. If they want to pay more for a Harvard or a Yale degree, then that's their business.But that same freedom applies to parents and K-12 kids. If Mom and Dad can afford to pay twenty grand a year for a kid's private education, then good for them. If they can't or won't, then that's fine too. Whatever is legal and benefits the kid.

As far as my Christian scholarship goes:The book of Revelation was written with the future in mind - and is still indicative of a future time (that being the Tribulation). The "666" code is, in my opinion, a symbolic representation of the mark that will be required to buy or sell food and other goods once the Antichrist is in power. If I had to guess, I would say that this mark will be much like the microchip that my sister's dog has. (I'm not against microchipping pets or anything - just saying.)That's just what I get out of Revelation, though. There are all sorts of other theories and beliefs about this book. Some believe that the events John described have already passed (when Babylon was in its prime - oh so many, many, many years ago), for example. Your mileage may vary

Area 51 really exists. Some people who live near the place spend a lot of time observing what they can from outside the fence. As far as I'm concerned, Area 51 is a military facility and nothing more. I believe that they test new flight technology and probably a few other, similar things. The most-often-asked question in response to that is, "Well, why is it such a huge secret if that's all they're doing?" My answer is pretty simple and logical. It is better to let people believe that there are alien spaceships and other weird, supernatural things inside Area 51 than it is to dissuade them of that idea. If people believe that crazy things are happening in the area, then they won't be focusing on the new technologies that are being developed and tested. It's easier to keep things classified and under wraps when few people are trying to uncover them

That's not a whole lot of money considering the time that it takes to participate in a forum. I would rather spend my time here earning hosting credits for my site. I can always earn cash at my day job

That's basically what I had in mind. Then I read your post and decided not to repeat you I will add, however, that I cannot think of any Presidents who *didn't* do goofy, weird things while they were in office. Bush, Jr. choked on a pretzel. Clinton messed himself up jogging. Bush Sr. threw up on a Japanese official. Ford...well, Ford just fell down a lot. None of these types of things make a President good or bad. They just...well, they definitely give "Saturday Night Live" fodder. And they make me laugh even if I support that particular President. Besides: can anybody tell me what we would have gotten had Kerry won? Nobody knows because Kerry said one thing one day and switched his position the next day. I didn't particularly care for the guy and am still glad that he didn't take the White House.

What is more important to you: your own knowledge of your intelligence, or making sure that everybody else knows all about it?If you're thinking of college: believe me, you're fine. Your GPA and extracurricular achievements will really put you on top with the admissions committee. They aren't going to need a stack of paper pronouncing your brilliance. You probably won't have to worry too much about financial aid either.So...don't worry too much about what other think. Being known as "gifted" won't make you any more or less intelligent, so try focusing on what you'd like to achieve in your life instead of how you'd like others to see you.

I wish that people would be mature and courteous enough to limit PDA in *all* public places. School...the grocery store...the park...everywhere. People should be able to maintain some semblance of self control...especially when they aren't separated from each other for very long (i.e. the workday or school day).I don't mind when couples hold hands or kiss each other a little. I make exceptions to this, of course. If I'm at the airport, I expect people who have been separated to really get into greeting each other (as long as they don't start having sex in, I can look the other way and be cool with the whole thing).But overall? Urk. I don't wanna see most of it.

I've never had a problem with interracial relationships. If both people love and respect each other, then great. If you and your girlfriend are happy together, then I hope that you continue enjoying each other's company. You can't have too much love in the world, IMO :PSome people are going to give others flak no matter what. I don't understand why things like interracial marriages and relationships are so controversial in this allegedly "enlightened" age, but that's how it is. The best thing that we all can do is to just live our lives and ignore the closed minded people as best we can.

I don't play handheld systems, so I'm not familiar with any of those Mario titles.Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) was probably the best as far as games that I can actually play goes. (N64 and every console after that...ehh, I get nauseous and dizzy when I play those systems). Mario 3 was cool because the graphics were pretty good for the time...Mario could actually fly...etc. I actually like the first Mario Bros. game more than I like 2. Mario Bros. 2 is such a huge departure from the overall concept of the games. I mean...having to catch eggs and throw them back at the dinosaurs or whatever at the end? Not really my thing.

THE best-paying gig in the world: being Bill Gates :PAfter that, I would say that something in entertainment would be the most lucrative depending on talent and popularity. J.K. Rowling is set to live very, very nicely for several lifetimes.

PayPal is safe as long as you think about what you're doing, i.e. watch out for phishing and stuff like that. Change your password on a regular basis, keep the info secure and don't leave a ton of money in the PayPal account any longer than is absolutely necessary.I would rather pay through PayPal than give merchants my debit card information any day.

I live in the state formerly known as the Republic of Texas. Hah...too bad we can't go back to that, because we had it goin' on back then. Other than owing massive debts, which the U.S. oh so kindly absorbed in exchange for annexing us into the country :PAnyway...the U.S. gets a 9.5/10 from me.This country isn't perfect. No country is. No political idea is perfect, either. But here in the States, I have the right to say just about anything that I want about the politicians, the government, the laws, etc.People here can be horrifyingly closed minded - stereotyping people from other countries and religions. But at least we all have the freedom to do and be whatever. Part of the price of having the freedom to not go with the state's ideas on, say, religion, is that we have to put up with people who are too stupid to appreciate the great melting pot that we have here.Oh, and American football is better than soccer any day

I can't really concentrate on the Harry Potter movies. As with most films that are adapted from novels, the Harry Potter movies don't do the books justice. They can't - you only get so many minutes of film and, oh yeah, the CGI/special effects budget can only be so big :PThe books, on the other hand, are great. I won't go so far as to say that they're the BEST novels ever written - but that's a matter of opinion.I've already pre-ordered book seven. The thing will show up a couple of days after the street date at the very latest. Maybe on the street date if Amazon is on the ball. Oh, sure, I could go to the bookstore and grab a copy at 12:01 a.m. on the street date, but I'm not THAT dedicated. Heh.

Let's see...collections...yeah.When I was a kid, I collected baseball cards (Topps all the way, man - none of that Upper Deck or Donruss garbage). I also had some hockey cards, now that I think about it. I wonder what happened to those? Hmm. Oh, well :PI don't collect too many things anymore. I used to have a nice, extensive CD collection (a couple of hundred discs) but I converted to digital. Now I have a few GB of MP3s. Maybe that counts as a collection? Hehe.Books are big for me, though. I have tons of books. Most are novels but there are lots of nonfiction (writer's references...computer type things...etc.).Zippo lighters are cool. I have a few of those. I liked them even before I took up smoking so I'll keep them even after I quit. In the future, I wouldn't mind adding to my tattoo collection - just have the one right now but would love to have the finances to have more done.

Not every Muslim is a terrorist. Not every terrorist is a Muslim. It's pretty simple if one thinks about it for a few seconds :PI'm a Christian. Some people hear this and automatically assume that Jerry Falwell and other such people speak for me. They stereotype me based on what a few Christians do or say. Fortunately, I've met more than a few people who take the time to learn more about ME instead of making assumptions - and I've made some pretty good friends that way.

I don't imagine computers overthrowing mankind and enslaving us anytime soon. I do, however, see them being used instead of human beings for all sorts of jobs. I don't mind that at all. Computers can be efficient and cheap. Oh and they can't whine if you don't give them Saturday evening off so that they can go to the movies :PMankind's job in response to this slow "takeover" is to learn how to do stuff that computers can't do. Job security, in other words.

If I know when and how I'm going to die, then I can try to change that.For example: if I know for a fact that I will be shot in the back of the head during a bank robbery at a certain bank on a certain day, then I won't go to that bank on that day, or anywhere close to that day. (Truthfully, I would probably NEVER go to that bank if I knew in advance that I was meant to die there).That would be cool and everything - being able to cheat death, at least temporarily (eventually old age will kill us all - or God will come back, one or the other). But, I believe that we die when it is our time to die. So, if I'm not blasted with a .45 round, then I will probably be run over by a speeding SUV. Or maybe I will be shot on that day, but at some other place.So...knowing in advance, as far as I'm concerned, wouldn't help me out very much.