TikiPrincess

I remember discussing this in my human geography class. According to Thomas Malthus' theory of exponential growth, he believed that the human race would exceed it's carrying capacity and the ability to sustain itself as early as the 1800s. With the rate of births far surpassing the rate of deaths, we would exhaust our food supply. However, due to advances in medicine, science, agriculture, and industry, most industrialized countries produce much more than is actually needed, and I think science will continue to advance to provide us with enough resources. We are nowhere near a food shortage, though many Americans are malnourished despite being obese.The natural predator of humans really is other humans. While we stand less of a chance out in the wild, man has the ability to fashion tools and possibly defeat an animal if faced with the situation. It's not easy, but possible, and a person in top form can usually outwit most animals. Humankind has a rather nasty tendency to turn on itself, though. Wars and greed cause much more damage to the population than wild animals. Population control legislation and education is also key to maintaining the population. Few countries will go to the extremes that China has with it's one-child policy, but studies have shown that education can largely affect the growth rate of a population. Women who are pursuing a degree are less likely to want to start a family, and women with careers are more likely to wait longer between pregnancies and thus, less children.There's also the idea of darwinism and natural selection. Those who have adapted to their surroundings are more likely to procreate and survive. Humans are notorious for their ability to adapt or alter their surroundings as well as adapt to them. Scientists are starting to learn how to manipulate DNA, so perhaps we'll begin to see genetic mutations that allow people to live in arctic climates or below the ocean's surface.Honestly, I'm more fearful of the economic implosion rather than a population one.

Mike, your pips are pushing everything in your post to the right so I have to scroll horizontally to see everything! >.<BuffaloHELP, is there a way to give him a special uber pip? How about a can of SPAM? Or evil green pips?

My brother actually got to live out his childhood dream and worked his way up from being a game tester to being an associate producer at Vivendi Games. Anyways, he's been working on this game called TimeShift for the last couple years. Vivendi bought the rights from Atari and then they kept pushing back the release date, but it looks like it will finally be released this fall during the 3rd or 4th quarter. It's your basic first-person shooter. The gameplay looks very similar to Gears of War, at least from what I've seen. The difference is that you can control time by slowing it down or even stopping it, kinda like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. The function is also available in multiplayer mode through the means of a time bomb, but I think it can be deflected with a time shield. GameSpot has a preview of it and the demo from E3 on the website. Anyway, check it out if you enjoy playing FPS games.

Ewwww.... really weird. But I have to agree with sheepdog, they didn't really have to be so breed-specific. It could have been any breed since all dogs are driven by their basic needs, including sex. If the owners had the dog neutered when they were supposed to, it would have nipped the sex drive and hormonal thing before the dog had these... urges. Obviously, though, these aren't good owners since they would leave their 2yr old child alone with a dog. Never leave a child alone with an animal, no matter what the breed! I've seen many vicious chihuahas in my day, and their bites can be quite painful even though they're small. Luckily, my dog's a girl, and she was spayed before we got her, so we never had to deal with any of the annoying problems with her going into heat. As to whether the owners trained the dog this behavior... Anna Nicole's dog would rip the clothes off of a teddy bear. Just the clothes. The bear remained intact. Very scary...

As a self-proclaimed nerd, I totally resent that. I had a boyfriend and guys flirted with me all the time during my nerdy phase of glasses and braces in high school. Of course, wearing a school uniform helped attract the creepy pedophiles, but there were some normal ones too. My theory, though, is that you can't change other people, you can only change yourself. And since reason doesn't seem to work with these boys, then it's time to step up to b!7chhood and stop being passive about it. The next time a guy manhandles you, smile politely and grab his balls. Then squeeze... HARD. And ask him sweetly how he enjoys being manhandled. My second suggestion is to sit back and observe guys. You'd be surprised how much easier it is to understand them than understanding women. Then use the knowledge to your advantage. If you want to go the friendly route, then find a common interest and talk to them about it. Eventually, they'll stop oogling you enough to listen to what you're saying and start seeing you as a person rather than a pair of headlights. Or you could go the other route and learn how to deflate their ego with just a look or a few choice words. Yes, you might be called some nasty things, but they'll stop trying to touch you.

Agreed. Especially since the logo doesn't appear on any of the other sigs you've posted.FYI, credits are based on the quality of your posts, so making a new post for each sig isn't going to earn credits faster.

Why go as far as China? One of the local news stations did an expose of puppy mills in Mexico. I guess it's for the people who are even too cheap to buy a dog from one of the many local backyard breeders. I, unfortunately, know several people who paid over $1000 for their dogs and figured that if they were stupid enough to pay that much for a dog, then there have to be other people out there who are willing to do that too. Not that some dogs aren't worth that much, but if you're just looking for a housepet and really don't care about lineage or specific traits and appearance, then there's really no need to buy from a breeder. My cousin got his Great Danes from a show dog breeder, but they weren't the right color, so she knocked a couple hundred off the price. He was glad because he just wanted some Great Danes and they're kinda difficult to locate at nearby shelters in his area. But he would have been just as happy to get his dog from a rescue site. Yeah, I know what you mean. It's the kind of law that really only applies to people that follow the law. And the people that don't follow the law won't be the ones suffering under it. They'll be raking in the dough from inflated prices, just like the Mob did during Prohibition. It saddens me to think of what people will do for greed.

Obviously, you've never been involved in a funeral. Caskets alone can cost upwards of 10,000. Cremation is not much cheaper. Unfortunately, funerals and weddings are big business because they're emotional times for people, so they're easily manipulated into spending lots of money. Honestly, you don't need a coffin lined in satin with a stained-glass top when you're not going to be enjoying it. Just like women don't need to spend $5,000 on a wedding dress. But sometimes they do. Thankfully, mine was less than $200, but I'm practical like and got a prom/cocktail dress rather than the "wedding" version. Anyways, I remember seeing this on Oprah a couple years ago. Some lady had her cat made into earrings. Another had her husband made into a ring with plans to use the rest of the ashes for a matching necklace and earring set when she could afford it. I don't really think that this kind of thing appeals to men very much. When you really consider it, natural diamonds are just the remains of dinosaurs, and they've been able to recreate the process by pressurizing ash rather than waiting for nature to go through the process. And with the way we're burning through oil, the liquid form of diamonds before they pressurize into their crystallized form, the diamond industry has to do something to maintain the flow of new diamonds. I'd never do it, personally, because it's a frivolous expense and I'd just as soon feed the earth with my decomposing body, but that's just me.

I'm sorry, I'm having a bit of deja vu. Didn't you already discuss this topic here? There are 13 pages worth of discussion about the universe and the possibility of more.

After perusing your posts, I really haven't seen much of a "quality" contribution to the Xisto forums. If you had read the Xisto Readme, you'll notice that under the thread Hosting Credits, it reads, The majority of your posts consisted of one or two lines, other than your speech, which should have been in quote tags since you are referencing another work. (Yes, you need quote tags even if it's your own work!) Whenever someone hears the word FREE, they automatically assume that it means there's no work involved. It's a complete fallacy. While there is no monetary value associated with getting hosted here, you do have to earn your website. That means putting some thought into your post, which isn't a bad trade-off for the amount of features and services that Trap provides. I really don't have any sympathy for your plight, and I support BuffaloHELP's decision in denying your application.

My friends and I decided to run around Burbank for a bit and did a double take when we noticed a Kwik-E-Mart down the road. We just had to take a look! You may be asking yourself, what is a Kwik-E-Mart? For those of you who have been living under a rock, it's the local convenience store in The Simpsons, which celebrated it's 400th episode this past spring. As a promotion for the upcoming movie, 20th Century Fox and 7-Eleven have teamed up to convert selected stores into Kwik-E-Marts. Instead of Slurpees, they sell Squishees. There's also Buzz Cola, Krusty O's, and the infamous pink donut. No Duff beer though Anyways, if you want to know more about it, click here.

Here's a pretty cheap solution. My neighbor fills some empty milk cartons with water, the plastic, half-gallon ones, and puts them around her garden. Like someone previously mentioned, it causes vibrations in the ground, so when the critters are tunneling away, they get scared. It's less exercise than jumping and it works when you're not there.

This actually explains alot. A friend of mine as abnormally large pupils. The police always ask whether he's on drugs because they look dilated. He's also a man-*BLEEP* and gets all these hot women to date him, and we could never understand why. We assumed that it had to be something related to sex, but his fiance said he wasn't anything special in that department. Must be something in his eyes.Then again, it could be that all those women have enough emotional baggage to fill a cargo plane...

The thing about addiction and abuse is that it can alter your personality - even after you've quit. Your body adjusts to the chemicals, producing more of one thing or less of another. Kinda like if you wash your hair everyday, then your scalp produces more oil and your hair actually becomes more oily than if you washed it every other day. Sorry, that's the only analogy I could come up with right now. It seems to me, as jlhaslip suggested, that you may be suffering depression. Honestly, who wouldn't after going through what you've been through. Your post shows that you've got some guilt over your actions and some pain over the estrangement from your parents. You may also be experiencing some withdrawal if you've stopped taking drugs or you may just be crashing if you haven't. Either way, I would also recommend seeing a doctor. Perhaps you'll be able to see things in a more optimistic light if you can figure out what's causing your lack of motivation. As for the parents thing... we all say and do things that we don't really mean. Most parents have blinders on and they see their child as the person they want that child to become. When that curtain is raised and they see you for the person you are, it can be pretty shocking. Your parents were obviously hurt and angry that you broke their trust. You are hurt and angry by their reaction and the extreme measures taken. Unfortunately, the hurt and anger sometimes keep building up over time instead of going away. Every discussion becomes fuel for the next argument. If you truly want to reconnect, then you have to be the bigger person and reach out to them. Don't meet them halfway or make them come to you. Go to them and do it with an open heart and an open mind. It's a very hard thing to do, and it will take awhile for them to respond and start reaching back. If they loved you enough to trust you back then, then they still love you even now. And if you're motivated enough to watch a movie, there's a great one called "Pieces of April" starring Katie Holmes and Kevin Spacey that you might connect with.

When I was young, I signed up as spoi1edbrat, but I quickly grew up and grew out of that. Then I started using a combination of my married and maiden names. I used that for awhile when I did online gaming and things like that, but I got involved with all of that personal drama that sometimes happens in the virtual world, so I'm distancing myself from my old moniker. My husband and I love all things tiki. We even commissioned a hand-carved tiki god for our wedding from Crazy Al. I didn't want to be TikiGod because I'm a female, and I thought TikiGoddess seems rather presumptuous. My favorite movie is The Princess Bride, so I decided to combine Tiki and Princess. ButtercupTiki just didn't have the same ring to it. I probably should have changed the order, though. There are less reasons to make fun of PT. Just call me tiki for short.

I looked through the CSS subforum under programming before I looked under tutorials, but more often than not, they were specific problems that users were having with scripting their CSS. So I wandered over to the tutorials. The problem is that I can't search the forum for CSS. I get an error saying that there are too few characters or an invalid entry. I think it would be efficient and effective to categorize the tutorials especially since the search parameters don't allow us to search for programming languages like HTML, CSS, or PHP.

I was weeding through the tutorials trying to find more CSS stuff, and I was just wondering if we could group the tutorials by content. I think there are 11+ pages of tutorials, and it would really save time if they were categorized. Since mods have to review the tutorials anyways, they can also make sure that the tutorials are placed in the correct category.

I agree that a TV subforum would be a great addition. I like to see other people's opinions and see what their perspective is on different shows. With so many shows now being broadcast on the Internet, it's possible for a global discussion rather than waiting for a show to be aired in other countries. I'd also like to discover shows from other countries since US programs get pretty watered down and mundane since they're trying to appeal to the masses and the lowest common denominator.

Aww... you forgot to include Lindsay Lohan in this! Since I'm a girl and can't marry any of them, I can honestly say neither! I'll just have to settle for being part of your lesbian fantasies 'cause I've heard they both "play for the same team."

I really didn't agree with any of the poll choices. I didn't wait until marriage to have sex, but I'm not ashamed of that fact. Nor have I had 10 partners, but I don't feel that I'm inexperienced. Though I was raised Catholic and, like someone mentioned, taught that sex is a sacred act between a husband and wife, I have come to realize that sex is a sacred act, but it doesn't need to be restricted to the sanctity of marriage. Of course, Catholic doctrine also states that the purpose of sex is procreation not enjoyment, and it's considered a sin to use birth control other than abstinance and the inaccurate calendar method. I prefer the pill and good ol' condoms, and I feel that there is absolutely nothing wrong with sex. It is a completely natural act and can be a beautiful expression of love. Great insight, but I think it has more to do with culture than biology. Yes, sex punctures the hymen, but some women are born without one or have such a thin one that the pain from the rupture is almost imperceptible. Girls are conditioned to protect their virginity, to hold onto it while boys are conditioned to try to get it any way they can. A throwback from the ages when a woman was only as good as her dowry, really. These days, however, girls are getting mixed signals from the media and our culture. On the one hand, they are being taught that a highly sexualized person is more popular, more desirable, and more enjoyable than the dowdy, nerdy girl that refuses to "put out." On the other hand, they are told that "good" girls don't have sex before marriage.

Hmmmm.... seems like someone's trying to steal mike's identity. First of all, your example has nothing to do with your topic. How exactly does a girl getting run over by someone on a cellphone have anything to do with the FAFSA application and something about drugs? I'm really not clear on that at all. Second, your organization seems a little off. If you do a search for speech outline format, there are a number of universities that publish the standard format. I would suggest looking at the University of Hawaii since they have PDF files that help, like a checklist and some suggestions on transitions. Third, your research should include specific quotes from your sources, even if it's just a few words. You need to establish credibility as a speaker, so unless you can enumerate books that you have written, degrees awarded, awards in the specific field, etc., you need to state your sources in the introduction of your speech. There's definitely a bit of work ahead, and your grammer could do with a bit of polishing. On a side note, I think you're supposed to use quote tags when you're submitting work on the forums, even your own.