BlueLancer

Like that comic strip shows, it's the root of everything that involves logic, building, technology, sciences.. I detested advanced math in school & never had motivation to study it, but always understood it's importance in different structures Doesn't really matter if you're an architect, psychologist, chemist, computer engineer, physics modeler, sculptor... Anything that has *anything* to do with logical appliance of materials or concepts/ratios, is directly linked to math. Math is the ultimate science from which other sciences branch. Not the most interesting one for some people (like me), but that's how it is in reality. Just like C++, visualbasic, etc... Those are independent programming languages, but their functionality ultimately derives from the x86 assembly language that can translate sequences and variables into machine code.

That reminds me.. I have frankly no idea whether it's a good idea to teach my languages & traditions to my kids or not. I mean... It'd be pretty awkward living, say, in the US surrounded by english & spanish speaking families, teaching the kid finnish (which is pretty much my 1st language), or serbian/croatian, possibly russian... They'd have absolutely nobody to communicate in the language with except me, and distant cousins in mainland Europe. Sure they'd grow bilingual and learn english anyways, but what use would their 2nd language be? A dilemma really, because I wouldn't want to butcher my roots & make my offspring oblivious to where they came from. But I don't want to make my kids confused either, & it'd be really weird if your wife can't talk the language you're speaking to your kids. Gotta decide that in due time later probably :lol:

lol @ sponge. A few hygienics products like a good deodorant or cologne would be a nice gift, but as a whole, your sister's gift seems rude in an indirect way. A 'hint' if you will.

Especially in nordic countries which have relatively socialistic policies, progressive taxation is common: The more you earn, the more taxes you pay. Taxation in nordic countries can even get up to 45-65% for the highest earning part of society & makes up almost half of the GDP [1] If a privately practising doctor earns $150,000 a year, pays 45% tax on it, I see no reason why he shouldn't be able to keep the rest $82,500 dollars as a reward. He's helping his community enormously by paying over $67k in taxes annually, thus the fees the local residents paid for complicated surgeries go directly back to the city & state coffers paying for children's education, public healthcare, road construction, state salaries, etc. A grocery bagger (this job doesn't really exist in scandinavia though) who earns $15,000 a year would only pay roughly 25-28% income tax & help his/her community significantly less. His/her service to the society is also less valuable because without the job being done by anybody, people could still lead normal lives without interruption.

Mothers shouldn't give a damn about people complaining about breastfeeding.. It's not unhygienic to bystanders. It's not unnatural. If you feel disgusted by it or lose appetite, it's your personal mental problem, not that of the mother. She isn't doing anything wrong regardless of covering herself or not. I never make fun of people or insult them, but I'd frankly laugh at a fully grown, adult man who gets offended by breastfeeding. It's equally as pathetic when bitter, childless or shameful women comment on the natural behavior of other people. Sometimes I feel conservative americans in particular would likely get a heart attack by going to a more relaxed, natural country like France. The people swimming at public (note: not nudist) beaches often do so without any clothing at all. Who will be the first to say that's unnatural too, or that they should cover themselves for your convenience? Those people don't have any obligation to cater to the preferences of people with specific phobias or dislikes, nor are they being disrespectful or lewd.

I'm willing to pay $200-$300.. No, make that -anything- for a doctor to fix a physical problem that limits my body and life, god forbid that of my child (if I ever have one). A grocery bagger is useful, but I don't really need his/her services for anything. I'm willing to pay maybe $1 extra for it, or just pack the things myself. When you pay a professional for services that demand exclusive knowledge, you're paying for years of knowledge that you can't just attain in a matter of minutes, at a significantly discounted price. I can't perform brain surgery on my kid, but I can pack his/her lunch in a school bag. Those doctors aren't "entitled" to anything; Due to the demand of their skilled service, the high salary automatically follows. Every physically fit illegal immigrant, even a teen, can bag groceries. Not a single illegal immigrant without education can perform eye, nerve or brain surgery. Since everyone wants the best quality service possible, the prices are automatically driven up by people like me and you. Unlike on bagging groceries, I can't put a price tag on health. I would pay 10 years of salary for my child to be fully able to use his/her mental capacity, legs, hands, etc.. Directly in the bank account of a private surgeon. So would millions of other people.

One of the best games series ever... But a lot of my friends don't really appreciate D1, mostly because a lot of them directly started the series with D2. The first game has a great atmosphere too & it can be played online as well. Heh, I remember playing that with at midnight in the winter, I was just a little kid. It was scary as hell, and I didn't know the English language that well so it just added to the intrigue-factor. I could only understand maybe 20% of what was being spoken and what was on the screen. Looking forwards to D3 8-)

I don't view it as a contest or list of things to top. Just help people when you can to the best of your ability. It doesn't matter if you think it "doesn't pay off".. Do it for the sake of them deserving it. & people do remember helpful people positively. What do you have to gain by being rude and unhelpful in life? You have everything to lose, you annoy people, create a bad image of yourself.. It's counterproductive.

In ten years, you'll look at that price and think what a peice of crap that was. Only 7200 RPM and one terabytebycicle (Sorry I couldn't resist)- In ten years if not less that will look like 1 GB and 2000 RPM looks like today. Today's newspaper, tomorrow's toilet paper. Nah, memory capacity is already peaking with technology. Processors will get more cores, RAM will get more efficient.. Storage will pretty much be the same 10 years from now. 1998-2008 can't be compared like 2008-2018. Think of it, mp3 compression gets better, video compression gets better, game developers try to squeeze more content into smaller packages (even the biggest games currently take only 6gb to 14gb in installation space, the near-photorealistic game crysis takes merely 7gb). 1-2 terabytes will go as far today as it will 10 years down the road, unless there is a conspiracy to make all files huge & future operating systems will eat up massive amounts of HD space (Vista takes about 10GB, next gen Windows 7 is estimated to take the same, that's 1% of a hard disk like the one owned by Nadril, but 100% of a typical 10gb hard-drive that was cutting-edge technology in 1998)

Take a look at jewish organisations like Neturei Karta http://www.nkusa.org/ Before people turn anti-semitic, it's good to remember Israel doesn't "represent" jews. It's a state with it's own interests and profits in mind, and like shown in Gaza, it also occupies foreign territories & makes life hell for over 1 million people. I'd expect Obama to still support Israel, but to a lesser extent... Why is every atrocity they commit being watched through the fingers? Hamas rocket shelling, which barely even causes injuries most of the time, doesn't even remotely compare to the damage Israel does and the civilians they kill every month When you hear Israel massacring yet more civilians, it's not all the jews collectively doing it. There are jews who hate the State of Israel just as much as the palestinians and some western people do, it doesn't mean they hate the jewish *people*.

'Ranting', which is what the subforum is made for, doesn't equal getting to flame & insult everyone limitlessly.

That was just a vague example; The point is a lot of people just have their best years ahead when they're 45-50. I'm not even nearly that age yet, not even near 30, but I wouldn't say you can't do 'anything' at that age. If anything, you can do more once you've established connections, have life experience & intelligence, etc. Still I think a lot of older people would prefer to 'go back in time' and live as about 18-21 years old, because at those ages, everything is unlocked to you & your "real" life is just beginning. You can carve your life into anything you want at that point, even if a few years pass until you meet your goals, you'll still be very young. Think you start to work on a goal at age 18.. Even if it takes you a decade to finish, you'd still be only 28 and already accomplished something huge. If it takes 5 years, there's barely any difference because you'll be only 23. It's very ideal.

maddox.xmission.com Updated, but -10 respect for referencing /b/ :lol: I think his style is surprisingly getting somewhat childish, even though the rant makes valid points about the Quantum of Solace movie (such as the story being totally ripped from a real life scenario that happened just a decade ago)

lol. Obama is barely over that age and he became the president of the United States... Plus he has a family and kids. His decisions from January 2009 onwards will affect hundreds of millions of people's lives across the world. If that's not "something", then nothing in life matters. OT: Definitely 18-25, the above poster has good logical reasons on why 3-4 would be ideal too, but then you'd be entirely dependent on parents...

Before you get 5 full pages of flames against your intelligence, it may be useful for you to know that wasn't the best trade possible.

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That's happy new year (or as in raising a toast, 'for a new year') in russian :P For christmas you would say "s rozdestvom"

Research please... Christmas has nothing to do with Jesus being born. His actual birth date is usually agreed by biblical scholars to be anywhere from May to September, not in the middle of winter. A lot of non-christians have christmas festivities, and have had since pagan times. OT: Merry christmas/holidays to everyone 8-)

It's a gender neutral word (and up until the 50-60's, had nothing to do with sexual orientation), it's used for both genders.

Ah, of course. If you stayed with the other step parent from a previous marriage, just seemed like an unlikely scenario.

Tried a few browsers, the alt stuff just works on IE apparently.

It can be symbolic for some people, promising an improvement on the eve of a 'new year' (literally).. Sadly for many people I know, those 'resolutions' mean nothing. They still go back to smoking, excessive junk food, whatever they're trying to get rid of. It ultimately takes your dedication and willpower, not just 'promising' to do something. If you -really- wanted to quit eating junk food for example, you could do it whether it was May, September or January.. I rather make long-term commitments regardless of what the calendar says :lol:

Wait, how can you have both :shock: I must be missing something.