Neutrality

Spacemonkey: Well, I can't really blame him/her in a sense. Sometimes world issues can become so annoying and depressing that some people just want to shut themselves away from it all. On the other hand, some are"desensitized" to it, so they just continue to watch without really feeling compassion or whatever, like I mentioned in an earlier post. Exactly. Fear creates confusion, which makes it a less daunting task to misinform people, which may inturn lead into easier brainwashing of the public. Did you also know that news show ratings go up when they air depressing stories? That's probably one reason why they don't air too many good, comforting uplifting stories. The more violence and disaster they show, the more audience they attract [ due to the desensitization tactic ], the more viewers they get, and the more ratings they receive. It's a very simple process. A very effective process at that. It's kind of like a station-to-station competition: the one who can attract the most viewers with disasterous news stories will win the ratings.

That's site not too bad. The layout and design is nice. I noticed that you used a template provided by another site, but that's okay for now. I like the dark greys that the template uses. The content is okay, but you need more of it. Overall, it's not too bad.

I think he [ Raptrex ] is asking for more bandwidth on top of his 5GB. Unfortunately, no. 5GB is the limit for bandwidth. You can't get more than that, even if you do request more. If you want more, like someone mentioned earlier, take alook at Xisto - Web Hosting.com for paid hosting.

There have been a few incidents like this already. It might have to with testing purposes in the Administration's case. If not, it might just be a bug that just has to be fixed. I wouldn't get your hopes up.

I've got about 4 weeks until this semester ends and also the end of the school year. This semester has been a good semester. I've really enjoyed working with my hands instead of just writing stuff. I've maintained a decent average this semester. Last semester, on the other hand, was a different story. It was the worst semester in the time I've been in high school. I was demotivated, scoring low in my most of my courses, and other little things. I'm glad that semester is buried in the past - I never want to go through it again. I can't wait until the summer. Relaxation, sports, sketching, travelling. The good stuff in life...for me that is.

By far, The Simpsons are my most favourite cartoon. I like the older episodes over most of the new episodes because they were stupidly funny. Now, they're just stupid. My favourite episodes are "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue fish", "Black Widower", "The Otto Show", and"Like Father, like Clown". I have Seasons 1-3 of The Simpsons on DVD.When I was on my Christmas break, I watched them for hours. I can't really get bored of them.Other than The Simpsons, I also like "My Dad is a Rock Star" ( which was created by Gene Simmons of KISS ), the Flinstones, and Bugs Bunny to a certain extent. I don't really like South Park or Futurama.

Should it be abolished? You know what? That's really hard to say. To be honest, I am anti-abortion, but in some cases, it may be necessary to abort the baby. It MAY be necessary. I'm not saying it is total necessary without question, but I guess I have to be a bit "open-minded" per se. I see it as murder if it has to do with the mother not wanting to take care of the child or if the mother can't give the baby the "love" it deserves. I understand that it's the mother's decision to abort the baby (which I understand is a fetus when inside the mother's womb), and it really doesn't matter what several people think about what is to be done, but if babies are being aborted just for the sake of being aborted, is this no better than a man being shot in the head, or a kid being killed in a forest? Are these not "premediated"? I digress.

Spacemonkey: I like this discuss too. Many good points are being brought up from both sides. This is good. We're understanding each other and we aren't being close-minded about the argument either. I'll agree with you on that. But the sad thing is is that alot of these politicians do fit this stereotype of being greedy and corrupt. And history has shown very few leaders who have been moral and upright. Sure, there must be afew of them that want to reveal hidden information to the public, afew of them who are moral and upright, but what about the consequences that could come with doing the right thing?They might lose their job, or they might get killed if you want to become really farfetched. They have to stay quiet or else they might lose that job. So really, the greedy ones are really in control, not the upright ones. Well, I agree in a sense. We don't need to know everything that they keep hidden, but, we also can't stay ignorant to the fact that there is also alot information that we do need to know that they keep hidden. The thing about holding back information back from people is that it basically leaves people to be easily misinformed (brainwashed even?) in certain issues that may be very important. Since there is so much information being directed towards us through media, through TV, radio, etc., we would assume that we know enough, right? But what if these medians of information do not always tell the "whole story" if you know what I mean. It's a kind of brainwashing technique if you think about it. When people are misinformed, they don't realize it, and thus, don't really know whether it is true or not. Maybe I'm sounding a little too anti-media. That's not it. I'm justing saying that the media has the power to hold back information and be able to tinker with information at will. This is another point that I thought about that may seem abit off-topic. Alongside misinforming the public, there is also desensitizing the public. When you watch a news show, how many depressing stories will you see? Basically, the whole news show is about depressing stories other than the sports, weather and entertainment segments. Seeing day after day of sad, possibly morbid, stories on the news eventually desensitizes a person. I'm seeing this as an agenda to desensitize the public so that when something terrible happens to their community, their loved ones, etc., they don't feel much compassion for them anymore. It's a good brainwashing technique actually - desensitization. But I digress for now. True. But, what politician is brave enough to do something as bold as that? What politician would be willing to risk his job (possibly his life?) if this plan to release The Cure should backfire in some way? He/She better be able to convince other leaders to support him/her also, because as the old saying goes, "There are power in numbers". I won't comment on the other scenario since I totally agree with it. Yes it is a bit different to assume that. I actually meant to add "all diseases" at first as well. But since I can't edit my posts... Anyways, I forgot the fact that people get injured also...silly me. However, there are more people dying of disease and cancer than there are people getting shot, getting into car accidents, etc. Other than that, I agree with what you're saying. So, based on your response, I was right: World Peace won't be what people expect it to be. Violence won't be eliminated. People won't stop being racist, prejudiced, etc. People won't become "moral" towards each other. The only thing that will change will be that nations will start to have good relations with each other. Basically, this will lead into a destruction of mankind eventually. People can't be like this for millions of years and still be able survive on this planet. It'll have to end sometime. And you're right. If the world is "peaceful", it would be much easier to attack another nation because no one would see it coming ( naturally, people would think "what nation would have the gall to start a rift against another nation in a "peaceful" world?", right?) Nothing is personal here. Everything is done for the sake of exchanging ideas/views/opinions, for gaining more perspective on certain issues, and for fulfilling certain curiousities. And I'll have to say that you bring up very well thought-out points and I can see that you are very well-spoken. I hope for another response from you Spacemonkey. This is becoming very interesting.

Like others have mentioned in this topic, technology is neither good nor bad. Just like fire, technology can be used for good, or it can be used for evil. Technology is a blessing AND a curse however. It seems that more bad is being done than good, but that's just an observation. If it were up to me, I would stay away from some technology that I deem useless and live a simpler life. I like nature and what it has to offer. I don't want technology to become nature's replacement. That would be sad if that becomes the case. The biggest problem with technology is that is makes it easier and easier for people to do almost anything, which means that people have less and less to do, which in turn results in more laziness, less activity, less effort, and more "free time", which can be taken as being a very unwholesome thing. Technology has also caused alot of people to lose their jobs, and has created few jobs as compensation. The more advanced technology gets, the less control humans have, which inturn makes it easier to be controlled by governments and the upper Achelon of the world. So, in the end, technology could backfire on humanity in which humans lose control of it. That may be along time from now, but it's bound to happen, sooner or later, isn't it?I'm not saying that people should stop using any technology whatsoever. You need some technology to survive. I'm just saying that we should reflect and realize that the threat is real. However, this is nothing more than one person's perspective. Take it for what it's worth.

I still have dial-up internet. I use AOL and have used it for 3 years now [ from 6.0 to 9.0 ]. I'll admit that I hate dial-up's extremely slow loading speeds, uploading transfer rates, and downloading speeds, but I've got to live with what I got. My download speeds usually stay in the range of 4kb-8kb per second. But I don't download stuff often, so it's not really that big of a deal. One reason why I don't use high speed is the fact that my IP address doesn't change, so it's much easier to get hacked. We might eventually get high-speed, but as long as my internet is fast enough to be able to work on my site, I'm content. Not overjoyous, but content.

No, I don't believe that "Friday the 13th" is bad luck. That's bogus. I've never had bad luck on a "Friday the 13th" that couldn't be uncoincidental, nor has anyone I know. Actually, the "Friday the 13th" superstition comes from several events that could have occurred on this particular day. The first one I believe has to do with Jesus Christ dying on a "Friday the 13th". I doubt this one is true, but it's possible. The other one has to do with the Crusades [ or the Knights of the Templar if you will ]. I think it was in 1200s, but it is said that on a "Friday the 13th" that the Knights of the Templar, and their last Grandmaster Jacques De Molay, were either captured on this day, or executed on this day. I've heard other stories that may also have a superstitious attachment to this day, but these are the ones I remember.

It's pretty bad in schools nowadays. I don't mean just bad. I mean hopelessly bad.I could tell you so many stories about my high school experience in the past few years of the crap that's been going on. I mean some of them were pretty bizarre, almost surreal. This year must have been the worst when it comes to violence, alcohol, drugs, "race" wars, and that kind of stuff.April was no doubt the worsed month. It was unbelievable. There must have been at least 4 fights during April, 2-3 happening in the same week. It wasn't a good scene. It had to do with some Portuguese kid's girlfriend and a black kid. I don't know the whole story, but the outcome turned out to be Blacks vs the Portuguese.And someone innocent passing by got elbowed into a locker by one of the antagonists, and he didn't even do anything. It ended a few days later with the Police coming in and having to mace a hall on the First floor. A Vice-Principal had to break up another like brawl under the stairwell. He basically dove into the crowd and actually elbowed someone unintentionally. Something else happened earlier in that month [ or was it late March ]. But anyways, while our basketball team was playing against an opposing school at the OFSAA tournament, things got a bit unsettled. It started with some of our fans chanting profanity at the other team. After the game [ a game in which our team lost by quite a bit ], some of the fans were getting pushy with some of the fans of the other team. This really wasn't the problem, but it was forboding of things to come. In the forum, things started to get out of hand. A fight broke out, and teachers had to break it up. Then, some kids in the forum didn't really appreciate being watched by "spectators" up on the second floor railings, so they started throwing pop cans, sandwiches and muffins at them. No one got hit, but there was a mess up there [ I was up there too, but I was on the other side ].There were also afew drug busts during March and April. It involved marijuana and that stuff. A few kids got suspended, no one got expelled. There's also been rumours of kids bringing weapons to school, but those were hearsay. There was one strange thing that happened in the winter months. Someone in my class went to a party. I believe he got drunk and then walked out of the house. I guess while he was outside, he was confronted by some individuals who beat him up. He went to the hospital, and a week or so later, he showed up to class with a black eye and some bruises. It's unfortunate that kids [ and people in general ], have just become so stupid. They've lost all sense of reality, and really don't give a damn about anyone else.

I've never really had a frightful encounter or anything like that really. There was that one time when I was much younger that I had a dream. I don't remember the dream exactly, it was probably too convoluted to explain. Anyways, just before I woke up, I believe I was in a parking lot, I looked up into the dark sky and saw a very unwholesome face. I woke up startled. Then, I thought I saw that same face at the top of my curtains. It looked so real. I quickly covered my head, and fell asleep.I've probably heard more twisted stories than I've experienced. I would tell them, but the post would be a little too long.

It seems like the world is always in a "damned if you do and damned if you don't" situation. No matter what is done in the world, it seems to result in another negative occurrence somewhere else. Spacemonkey: Very well said on your behalf. I agree on most of the points you brought up, but I disagree on several small ones. No hard feelings though. Good point. Giving too much to them would be a bad idea. I think giving them enough so that they can live a decent life is good enough to start, then if they are willing to work up to higher aspirations/callings in life, they can try to do so. Compromise has to be attained somehow, even if their companies lose abit of profit. But I never said that they should donate all of their money, either. That would be kind of silly. On the other hand, given a somewhat decent amount of money to those who are suffering in third world countries I don't think is a bad idea. They can still live well and still be able to help others. Sometimes you have to give alittle. Unfortunately, that's just a pipe dream on my part. Major companies and governments will NOT give that amount of money to help the world.I think the public knows them well enough to know that they would rather stuff their pockets and get everyone into debt than to help as many people around the world as possible. Not necessarily. I wouldn't doubt that the higher Achelon of the world know things that they don't want us to know, like for example, the cure to cancer and many diseases. It's happened in past regimes [ hidden propaganda ], and I wouldn't doubt that it's happening now. Let's say that someone finds the cure for cancer and almost every disease on the earth. Wouldn't they loose a lot of money on medicinal drugs and healthcare anyways? Who would go to the hospital or go to a pharmacy if they were disease-free and in the best shape of their lives?That's one reason to conceal cures for cancer and diseases. I forgot to mention this. Besides the money factor, there is also the population factor in regards to the "cure for cancer and all diseases". If this cure was given out to a large portion of the people in the world that are suffering, the population would begin to grow at a fast rate. Hypothetically, concealing The Cure could be a sort of population regulator - keeping the population under control, or possibly, keeping the population at steady decline. But I digress. I don't know about this. I think the world isn't peaceful, actually. But that's my opinion and I'll reserve the rant for a more appropriate topic.

Well said. I agree that there is way too much prejudice, stereotyping, racism, and bias in the world. People have become very shallow nowadays. You're automatically labelled to be a certain person based on your nationality and origins.That's very ignorant and very stereotypical. Of course you'll get some people who do fit the stereotype, but I don't the whole race of people or group of people will fit the description to a tee. "Painting everyone with the same brush" happens far too often these days.I don't care if people do play video games either. They can do whatever they want with their lives. It's their choice. But no, not every person who plays video games is a geek. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Many people of all ages and all statuses play video games. Video games are not made for "geeks" only. But I'll have to admit, there are a few people I know that do play online games for a long time [8-10 hours a day including at school ].And about Homosexuals. I'd be the first to admit that I don't agree with how they live and how they go about doing it. However, I wouldn't treat that type of person any different than any other human being. Mind you, I wouldn't give them any preferential treatment either, but I'll treat them like any human should be treated. I also wouldn't condemn them. Like I said, I wouldn't agree with what they're doing but there wouldn't be any hard feelings.

I first learned PHP in February 2004 from a book called PHP [ what an appropriate name ]. I didn't know what to expect from it, but it actually became easy to mein a matter of days. After a few months, I got hooked to it. It was so powerful and it was free too. After going through a two PHP hosts, I ended up here. I then started using the PHP.NET website for updated information on PHP since my book is now four years outdated. And that's about it.

I first learned PHP in February 2004 from a book called PHP [ what an appropriate name ]. I didn't know what to expect from it, but it actually became easy to mein a matter of days. After a few months, I got hooked to it. It was so powerful and it was free too. After going through a two PHP hosts, I ended up here. I then started using the PHP.NET website for updated information on PHP since my book is now four years outdated. And that's about it.

I don't hate newbs either. Why would I? I am also a newb since I joined just under three months ago. It doesn't mean anyone is stupid or anything like that just because they are new. That's just plain ignorance to think or assume something like that. On another forum I used to go to, "n00b" was actually in reference to new users that spammed consistently, users that got angry and vulgar when they didn't get the "answers they wanted", or users that just outright ignored answers to a question but then asked the same question again a few hours later. Now that is annoying. I don't care if they ask a question that was asked many times before a long time ago, it's when they ask a question but ignore the answers and then ask the question again a few hours or a few days later. That's just pure ignorance and is quite childish. The problem with some older users in many forums is that they instantly assume that someone who is new to the forum is a childish, ignorant doorknob who can't think for his/herself.

I think the term "n00b" is used to describe those individuals who are new to a forum that immediately cause trouble and spam and whatnot. A "newb" or "newbie" is someone who is new to something. That's the difference. But anyways, yes. At one point, we were all "newb" or "newbie". In everything w e have ever done, we've had to start from somewhere. We've had to overcome pitfalls, had to stay strong through failures, and whatnot. There's nothing wrong with being a "newb". It's good to learn new things and to learn through experience and mistakes. On the other hand, being a "n00b" is not a path someone wants to take, especially in real life. And that's my two cents...take it for what it's worth.

What do I think is/are the biggest issue(s)? Well it's pretty simple.The world has so many big problems, but most of them won't be solved as long as the governments of the world continue to line their pockets will gold. With all of the money that they have, wouldn't they be able to feed the whole world a few times over?They have all of these commercials and charities that ask people to sendmoney and all that to suffering countries, and yet, those countries arestill in the same state, and it seems that many people do donate to them. Is the money not going to the people in those third world countries? It really makes me wonder.And about cancer. I think that they've found the cure for many cancers a long time ago, but they choose not to let it out on the market. Why? Well think about it. If they give the cancer cure to millions of people around the world, the hospitals would lose money on all of the medication and hospital care these specific people get.Even the pharmaceutical companies would lose alot of money since they make millions off of medicinal drugs. When people are in good health, they don't buy drugs, and when drugs aren't being bought, they [ the pharmaceutical places ] lose alot of money. See what I mean? Wouldn't they rather make as much money off of people as possible?World Peace? I think that there will be world peace soon. However, I have a feeling that the world peace won't really be what people expect it to be, or at least, what some people expect it to be. But this is just a personal view.I consider these to be the biggest issues. I don't see a really above and beyond issue in the world today. Of course there are things like the gas prices, the Iraq situation, Canada's governmental situation, but these are mostly civil issues and not global issues.But I digress.

Since I got my subdomain changed, and since I can't edit my previous posts to update the subdomain in the links, I'll have to repost all of the images in this reply. Here they are: Notice from BuffaloHELP: Links removed as per request. Those were some good pictures, how come?

Good Grief Graphics: I guess you're right, in a sense. Milk: Thanks. However, I doubt that I could get money for doing something like this. People want 3D models and whatnot. Most people don't really care about pixellated art. Okay, here are a few more images. They are a clown, a palace on a hill, and the Arctic.

To get reputation, members who feel that your posts have contributed something to the community, have helped them in a problem, or are worthy of "praise" [ like for example a well-written poem ] will raise your reputation. It's usually not an easy feat to earn reputation, but you will be surprised. Personally, I don't find reputation that useful, but I don't own this forum, so it doesn't really matter what I find useful here or not. The reputation system can be a blessing and a curse - you can credit those who deserve, but then it can also be used to someone too much reputation - whether it is good or bad. But, that's basically how the reputation system works.

I guess there are two possible reasons why they ask about your religion. A) They're curious or They want to start a debate with you so that in the end they'll try to force you into believing in their religion. In my opinion, I see religion as being very corrupt and is often used for controlling the populace. Unfortunately,religion also causes rifts between nations and races as well. Now, I could go into a whole rant on religion and it's effects on society, but I'm assuming this neither the time nor the topic to go on a religious debate.I understand your "dilemma", however. I've been asked what my religion is, but I simply responded by saying, "I don't follow any religion", which is the truth. But this is not to say that I am implying that I am an atheist or an agnostic either. I just don't like to categorize myself under a religion. That's my two cents.

It's only a template? That's not really a website then. But I'll throw in my two cents in anyways. Well, I'll have to admit that that is a very nice-looking template. Very well done. It looks better than most CMSs! There are only two problems I have with the design. First, as someone before mentioned, the images take a little too long to load. I think I found a Javascript that let's you cache the images so that the images are preloaded every time you visit that particular page. I suggest going to http://www.htmlgoodies.com/ and looking for it in the Javascript section. Second, having the links down on the bottom of the screen is okay, but maybe you could move it in that sidebar under the Feature box. Aside from the fact that it's only a template, and the two points I mentioned, it's a very appealing design. It would've been nice if it already had content, but that can be changed.