Randox

I would have thought that Canada would score a lot worse than that (on the income inequality). From my time spent in the USA, most of the time I have felt like I could still be back in Canada. I guess that's what happens when your just doing the tourist thing, and not actually living there. I think part of it is that we don't have nearly as many wealthy people, and our wealthy are not as wealthy, coupled with possibly a smaller proportion of poverty sticken people. There is still one heck of a divide here though, with a shrinking middle class. As for the homicides, we look to be about on par with Europe, which makes sense to me. Kinda makes me want to take a look at the justice systems used in Europe and Japan though, to see what they are doing differently. My guess is that the countries with the lowest scores are the ones that focus on rehabilitation, rather than just throwing everyone in jail for decades at a time (I can't say I like the idea of rehabilitation over huge sentences, but I also can't deny that it seems to work way better).

I might contribute more later, but I thought I would weigh in on the physical/mental dependency thing. While I have no doubt that a purely mental dependency can be just as hard for someone to break, and likely just as painful as any physical dependency, there is one very key advantage to a mental addiction. The problem with a physical addiction is that if it is severe enough, going cold turkey can quite literally kill you. Once the body has decided that a foreign substance is one of its vital fluids, the consequences of not getting enough of that substance can not only cause a lot of very real pain, but it can land your ass in the grave. A mental addiction can't do this. No matter how much pain or discomfort it might cause you, there is no way for a mental dependency to outright kill you, or even affect your physical well being in a direct manner. Now, withdrawal whether its mental or physical in nature is going to stress you out for sure, but this is regardless of what the nature of the addiction was. Physical addiction has every negative effect of a mental addiction, with the addition of the withdrawal symptoms having a very direct impact on your health. For that reason, I would consider a physical addiction to be at least a bit more serious than a mental addiction. They are both a very serious problem, but at the end of the day only one can cause you direct physical harm, while both can cause psychological harm. EDIT: I do realise that stress can have a very dramatic impact on your physical health, but my point is about the effects of physical addiction that go beyond what a mental addiction can cause.

Here is my house. The planner is a bit outdated, so the treasure room on the ground floor is representing my managerie, and the 3 gardens in the basement represent my 3 pit dungeon rooms. Starting from the top right and going clockwise, the big monsters in my dungeon are: Pit Iron Dragon, Pit Scabarite, Pit Black Demon, Steel Dragon (treasure room). The rest of the dungeon is baby reds. The Oubliette is a bone cage and fire pit, for maximum lethality. There are no longer any teleport traps in my dungeon, only pit traps. I'm also fairly sure there are still a couple rooms left over in my room cap. Every picture is centered around the same location, so they shouldn't be too hard to match up. From top floor to basement: (there is an error. I forgot I have a second combat ring in my dungeon, north of the treasure room) The crafting room is one of very few rooms that is from my original house layout (the kitchen and costume room are the only other rooms still located in their original spot). I used to have another stacked quest/skill hall beyond it, and then my throne room, but that got cut out to free up more rooms for the dungeon (I had 3 staircases at once at one time, with a much larger top floor, but I learned that guests never venture upstairs so I have to keep the entertainment on the ground and in the dungeon). Everything around the bottom formal garden (entrance) is designed to be functional, with the summoning obelisk, alter, mounted glory, and portals as close to the entrance as possible. The ground floor lecturn is eagle, for the conveniance of my guests (most people make tele tabs), with the demon lecturn upstairs where I can use a servant if I need to make more than a couple enchants.

You should be with whoever makes you happy. Not whoever makes everyone else happy. You matter more. I know the way my own parents view my life is that there are certain things they want for me, but at the end of the day they are proud of me and they love me no matter what (barring I become a murderer or rapist, which might dampen things a bit). I think if your parents express frustration with the choices you make, its only because they want what is best for you, as they see things, and they are frustrated at you making what are to them, non optimal choices. In other words, they are frustrated/whatever because they care. Or maybe I am totally off the mark, and your parents are totally different from mine. I don't really know. But it might be something to think about. Good luck with the telling people and all, whenever you decide to do that (assuming you do). I can't imagine that's an easy position to be in.

I don't know if smoking really helps weight loss, or if that's just something some people believe. Either way, its something I've heard from a few people. And I never said I have a problem with weed, I only said I don't smoke it. I can't say I'm too crazy about how it smells, but other than that I actually don't care.

My Brother is the only person who has ever been even close to convincing me to smoke pot. It's probably because I actually trust him, and respect him, so I put a lot more stock in what he says than I might for other people. Also, he had a pretty easy time giving it up. I don't know if its because he didn't do as much as some people I know, or if its just a personality thing. For alcohol, I don't have a problem with it. I drink, sometimes a little bit, sometimes more. As best as I can tell, I haven't lost any memory on more than 1 or two occasions, and I've never had more than the most minor of hangovers (as in not enough to cause more than an observation of some discomfort). As far as I am concerned, a drink or two can be a god send in some social situations. It facilitates my getting to know people when I am in that sweet spot where I am not nervous enough to keep me from being social, but not drunk enough to make me stupid (this would be the point before you can notice any effects, such as any co-ordination impairment, or actually observe yourself saying things you might not normally say, which is to say about one drink spread out over an hour for me). Heck, for all I know, at that low a dose it might just be a placebo effect. A drink or two also makes being around legitimately drunk people a lot more fun. Sure, the idea of feeding yourself what is essentially a poison is kinda stupid. But it's reasonably harmless in moderation for most people, and it can be fun, as well as having some useful side effects. This assumes of course you have a personality that allows you to drink in moderation. Not everyone can really limit themselves to a couple drinks. I'm not sure I will ever know why people smoke (cigarettes). I mean, I know most of the reasons (things like social pressure and weight loss), but unlike just about any other drug, they don't seem to do anything for you (except make you smell terrible and act as a huge turn off for a lot of people). Alcohol makes you loosen up, pot is just plain fun. Cocaine makes you feel like your kind of the world or something as I understand it, and shrooms at least take you for one hell of a ride (as does Salvia). But Cigarettes don't have those benifits. I have never heard anyone describe smoking as fun. I figured all that out years ago, so I've never been able to figure out why someone would go for that deal, knowing they aren't going to get anything from it going in. I'd actually be really interested to hear from someone who smokes about just why they started. I love to learn about why people do things :D It's also worth noting I was never under any pressure to smoke, My parent's don't, my brother doesn't, and none of my friends ever did. I got asked if I wanted some pot way more often than if I wanted a cigarette, so maybe I missed out on how much pressure people can be under.

Nice stories Bows, brought a smile to my face, especially the first one. I assume you have a job that pays in cash to be carrying those denominations of money? I think I carry something like $40 on me. It's really just for when I am in a situation where debit/credit is either not an option, or not feasible. I hate using real money though, because then I have to deal with the change. In Junior High, one day a kid in my class came to school with like $500 in his wallet (I think it was $300 and like $200 in coupons or something like that). Guess who's wallet got stolen during gym class that day. I don't think he ever got it back, and he learned a valuable lesson about gloating about how much money you have, and then leaving said money unattended for an hour.

Pitty the new rogues den sounds like its competitive against fellow players. That sucks some of the joy out of my non competitive personality. Ah well. The bank spaces should be nice, since I am pretty much operating on a full bank right now, and the spaces would relive some tension. Also nice that coins won't have to hog an inventory space much longer, though you'll never be able to convince me to keep all my money on hand, no matter how risk free that's supposed to be. My money stays behind a bank pin, just in case. Same thing for the tool belt (at least for the gilded dragon pick). Would be neat if they add a bank pin to the wallet. I can see that being an after release thing though. Can't believe we are getting another freaking pet for Christmas though, especially since they booted the turkey pet out of the toy box. I already have 16 pets in my menagerie (I dropped my pet rock there rather than store it). All holiday pets need to go in the toy box. The event itself sounds like it will be good for a laugh though, which I am looking forward too. I'll wait and see on the loyalty stuff. I guess I'll hold off on spending for now, until after Christmas to see how many of those bonus points days I can pick up. Aren't the 12 days of Christmas supposed to be before the 25th? Or am I being crazy?

The other thing is that the last generation that can read analog is going to think all the generations that can't are just really stupid. It's one of those basic skills we all take for granted. If you can't read a clock, you must be retarded. That's not going to work out so well until people catch on that they aren't teaching it anymore. EDIT: This is bringing back memories. I actually remember learning how to read analog clocks, and I remember time before I could read them as well. Specifically, I remember my frined trying to bullshit me and my other friend into believing that he could read such a mysterious and cryptic device.

I suppose it probably is easier to write neatly at speed. I just blend the two styles like my Dad does. Most people can't read my printing very easily either, unless I take my time (which I do if someone else has to be able to make it out), but that's also because I print really small. I have to use fine pens and mechanical pencils or it becomes totally illegible. I suppose my bias comes from no actual need to write by hand. When you fill out forms, you have to print. For everything else, you have a keyboard. EDIT 1: And I assume the practice thing was meant for me. It's totally true too. I stopped writing as soon as I was allowed, and instead decided to work on my micro print. And since I have never needed to write once in my entire life, but have had to cram notes a couple times when I ran out of paper, it seems like a fair trade off so far. EDIT 2: Missed a post or two, never mind. I can read my writing, but only if I slow it down. At max speed its doctor signature material. On a related note, my signature often doesn't spell my name. I routinely make the first letters of both my names look like other letters somehow. I'd fix it, but then someone trying to sign for me would probably spell my name right, so I think of it as added security.

To be fair, those are both fairly useless skills. Cursive sucks because most people's hand writing is illegible to every other person on Earth (except for teachers apparently), assuming they can even read their own writing (I can't read my own writing if I write at more than like 15 words per minute). It is not very likely you will end up in a situation where you can't just print. If you need to write super fast (such as a court stenographer), that's what shorthand is for. You can kind of make a case for analog clocks though, seeing as they are still pretty common on everything from watches, to just about all clocks that aren't an alarm. I guess the same case can kind of be made for cursive in that you might need to be able to read it some day, but I can't think of anyone who actually uses it anymore. As for the control-click thing...that's like strait out of a Simpson's cartoon. That is some serious techno illiteracy.

EDIT: She isn't here so far as I can tell, so this post fails to amuse me any more. Don't ever let someone you don't really want to be friends with move into your house. It's a stupid idea, and you'll regret it.

I just want to stress that apologoies are tricky, and you want to be damn sure about how you word them, even in the most informal setting (ie just talking to her). The problem is, that as soon as you say your sorry (and even if you literally just say "I'm sorry"), you are at risk of admitting fault. That letter Decebal posted is actually pretty good. I know it comes off a little weird, but that's because it was written by a lawyer, and is designed as a way to apologise without accidentally writing a confession. Stupid as it may seem, you might need to talk to a lawyer before you can say sorry. That said, if its possible for you to do that, things will probably turn out a lot better if you do.

New Vegas and GTA IV are epic games. And nice on the shirts. Nothing like getting really expesive clothes for cheep :thumbsup:

How many people on this thread know that we have had a price checking button on the inventory screen for months now? In light of that, I am going to go with some sort of wallet. If it gets all the various currencies out of my bank and inventory, that would be awesome. Also, Jmods have said on more than one occasion that there are no plans for micro transactions. Jagex has already shown some willingness, whether you choose to believe it or not, to pass up opportunities that could make them some extra cash at the expense of ruining their game. And I do of course mean that they could have easily made their own bots, or outright taxed people for using them, rather then spending boat loads of money fighting the problem. I have enough faith in the CEO to not do things that would totally compromise the game that I don't believe micro transactions are even a remote possibility. Not for a while at least. And in the end, what does it matter. No point getting worked up over nothing. If it does come to pass that we get micro transactions, I'll get worked up then. Not going to waste my energy getting pre-angry :ugeek:

My dad does that all the time, he puts it on lightly enough to activate the lights but without putting pressure on the disc. Good fun is had by all who aren't tailgating. I hope you don't mean he drives around with his left foot on the breake as a full time thing. That is super [bleep]ing annoying to drive behind, no matter how far back you are. It also means if you ever do actually hit the breaks, the person behind you is going to ram you even if they were like 100m back because they can't see your brake lights change. Oh, and people who don't turn their [bleep]ing blinkers off! I've been behind people who left them on for like a kilometre after making a turn. It's like the whole brake light thing too. It causes people stress because now everyone knows they probably aren't going to get a signal before your lane change, plus its really annoying to look at. Now, I might hate blinkers a bit more than most people. If I'm not at the front of the left turn lane I don't normally turn them on till the light goes green (assuming its left turn only. If its a combo, then the peeps behind me need to know so on they go).

American's don't have Boxing Day sales? How strange. I've only bothered with that once, and its because a TV was one of my Christmas presents, but it was a lot cheaper to wait a day and line up before dawn (which blows) at Future Shop to get one. I didn't mind though. I ended up with a 32", which is the largest you can get into my room anyway without sending it up the hatch (a 34 might make the corner), which is a little larger than what they were planning on getting me (but I couldn't find that one, must have been super low stock or something). So, I guess the Americans have their season starting sale, and we Canadians have our season ending sale. Bonus if your on the border and like sales.

Oh wow, I never even though cleaning might mean washing (here, cleaning would generally mean the inside where washing would mean the outside). In that case, its a legitimate problem I think. Your car needs to dry fairly fast or the soap normally makes it look like garbage. Not sure if a really good rinse (ie rain) would prevent that or not. I know my family always waits for a really sunny day, and we turn the cars around after a few minutes to make sure the whole car dries.

Question. Why did you need to get payed before you could clean your car? Do you have a coin operated Vacuum cleaner or something? Also, raincoats (this might not be fair since I really like the rain, where you obviously don't) :thumbsup: But yeah, the weather is always messing plans up, so I feel your pain regardless.

I totally read that butter knife the first time. I've only cut myself with a knife once, and I was being a total moron so it was my fault (I was using it to pry frozen food apart and it ended up cutting really deep into my thumb). I'm Canadian, so we got thanks giving out of the way 2 months ago, when it was still warn enough to go sailing for sure, and swimming if you didn't mind getting a little cold. Also, trying to get to, or park at my Uncles cabin would be suicidal in the winter. I remember a could years ago my brother has his SUV on 3 wheel backing it off the road to try and get a lawn space, and we almost did the same this year with ours (parking in like the exact same spot). Add to the 40deg+ incline on the way out, and yeah. Not happening after snowfall. Not half as fun as my sister in laws cottage though. I got to tag along with my brother on a trip out there once, and the rule was SUV's only to handle the road. There we're 3 vehicles and I got to drive lead because my SUV had the best ground clearance of all of us. Probably the closest it's ever come to true off-roading (which it wasn't really meant to do. It's the Infinity version of a Pathfinder, so it doesn't have quite the right suspension). I think it took me about 20 minutes to do a 1 km section of it. Me and the guy behind me were faster than vehicle 3 (which was carrying a heavier load which was giving them ground clearance issues, which we sorted out for the trip out) by almost 5 minutes there. Just so many rocks, and huge holes in the ground, and then your trying to find a path through that doesn't involve driving through the bushes and removing your paint. Lots of fun though. It's a challenging road to drive. At least without damaging anything on the bottom of the car or making everyone inside need to pee every 2 minutes.

I do the brake tapping too. When that doesn't work, I use the handbrake to bring myself down 10-15 km/h, wait for they to get close, then tap my brakes while hitting the gas if they don't seem to notice that I slowed down. Normally they realise it before I have to tap though, and the holy shit I'm about to rear end them is enough to either make they back the [bleep] off, or piss them off enough that they just go around me. Sometimes I wish I could pop the trunk while driving, and have it lift up a sign reading "Come on in why don't you [wagon]". Maybe deploy some fake ramps too. I'd also go for a nice padded bumper, and just slowly ease my way back onto their bumper and then go to neutral. If they wan't to push me down the highway at 140, who am I to argue with them. [bleep] tail gaters.

Going back to the my being in a similar position in High School for a minute... Most of us had circles of friends in other schools as well. We all either new people from the schools we we're in before, or from people we just knew growing up. Most of the dating done by the people I knew knew best was with people who went to other schools in the area. For every inner school relationship, your probably had at least 3 inter school ones, plus other love interests that never developed into relationships. Now, if you don't already know people from other schools. I'm not really sure how you would go about doing that. Best bet would probably be your friends, assuming any of them have friends outside of the school.

It snowed today. A lot. Enough that the bobcats are out clearing our sidewalks. Fortunately I plan ahead, and I already moved some boots from my parents house to my house, but I might have to get my real winter coat soon. The ones I have now require a sweater too, and the coat itself isn't as water resistant as my winter.

*I've* never been almost attacked (thank god), but that's where brother stories come in. There's an intersection where its fairly difficult to make a left turn. Not many people turn there, so they didn't need give it an arrow or something. That's cool. So one day my brother and his friends (bro wasn't driving, his out of province friend was is sitting there, and the pedestrian light is blinking (like its a couple seconds left), and a jackass pedestrian starts walking across and my brothers friend makes the turn by going around the pedestrian (by cutting through the other lane cause there was no car there). Anyway, its a residential street so they aren't going to fast, and the pedestrian starts chasing them, screaming at them. At this point I should point out there are 4 university age guys in the car, at least one of whom was built like a tank, and the guy chassing them was not big. Apparently the friend driving just slammed on the brakes, and got out, and asked if there was a problem, and the guy started running in the other direction.

He laughed cause your old phone was a piece of shit compared to a bold. I mean, people do get attacked to their phones, and I get that, but still. Plus I love crackberries so I am quite biased. Me, I prefer the torch since they were the same price, and it comes with a cover for its keyboard and bigger screen.